Significant Safeguarding Rule Changes for Child Student Sponsors

In March 2025, the Home Office announced significant new safeguarding changes to the Child Student Visa route which will affect independent schools sponsoring Child Students. Due to come into effect on 29 May 2025, the measures are aimed at strengthening child safeguarding and include new requirements relating to sponsored boarders and their care arrangements outside of school boarding. More recently, the Home Office published Q & A guidance on the policy changes to the Child Student Visa Route (Child Student Guidance) which provides helpful clarification for sponsors on these new measures.

Child safeguarding changes in Child Student Visa route

The Child Student Visa route is for children between the ages of 4-17 who wish to study at an independent school in the UK. With child safeguarding a long standing area of concern for the Home Office, there are already specific Child Student Safeguarding Duties set out in the Student Sponsor Guidance. All student sponsors who recruit enrol students under the age of 18 must ensure that there are suitable care arrangements in place for them in the UK.

However, the new safeguarding rules are designed to ensure that sponsored Child Students are placed into appropriate UK care and living arrangements with additional requirements relating to Parental Consent and Nominated Guardians.

Under the new Child Student Visa rules:

• A Child Student must live in the UK in one of the new list of six permitted UK living arrangements. Two new categories have been added to the current four permitted UK living arrangements to account for the different types of boarding arrangements where a Child Student is at a residential boarding school in the UK. The two new categories include:
  • Weekly boarding at a residential independent school during term time and at weekends, and outside of term time living with a private foster carer or a close relative; and
  • Flexi boarding at a residential independent school, and also being cared for by a person who is a private foster carer or close relative.

Full time boarding at a residential independent school remains one of the permitted UK living arrangements but with new conditions on the sponsored boarder’s UK care arrangements outside of term time, as examined below.

• The three other existing permitted UK living arrangements for Child Students are as follows:
  • Living with a private foster carer or close relative who is a British Citizen or settled in the UK;
  • Living with a parent or legal guardian who has permission as a Parent of a Child Student; or
  • Aged 16 or 17 and living independently.
• Under the new Immigration Rules, the Parental Consent letter must specifically confirm which of the six permissible UK living arrangements the Child Student will enter into in the UK. The recently published Child Student Guidance also confirms that student sponsors will now need to confirm the Child Student’s intended UK living arrangements on the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS). The Student Sponsor Guidance and the CAS Guidance will be updated with further information on 29 May 2025.
• A definition of a ‘Nominated Guardian’ will be added to the Child Student Visa Rules for the first time. A ‘Nominated Guardian’ will now be expressly defined in the Immigration Rules as a person “aged 18 years old or over who is appointed by the Child Student’s parent, legal guardian, or school as the Child Student’s carer in the UK outside of term time for less than 28 days and/or is the school’s emergency contact in the UK.” A ‘Nominated Guardian’ is further defined as a person who is not a private foster carer, close relative or the Child Student’s parent who has immigration permission as a Parent of a Child Student. The Child Student Guidance also confirms that a Child Student Visa holder can have more than one Nominated Guardian.
• With the new Child Student rules now distinguishing between full, weekly and flexi boarding, there are new conditions on care arrangements when a sponsored boarder is not in the care of their school as set out below.
  • Full Boarders: Must stay at school during term time and with a British Citizen/settled person who is either a ‘Nominated Guardian’, private foster carer or close relative outside of term time.
  • Weekly/Flexi Boarders: Must stay with a British citizen/settled person who is either a ‘Nominated Guardian*’ private foster carer or close relative at weekends/when not boarding and during holidays.

*As a result of feedback from the independent school sector, the Home Office’s Child Student Guidance now confirms that weekly and flexi boarders will also be allowed to have a ‘Nominated Guardian’ outside of term time, in the same way as full boarders. This is a welcome concession as previously the new Child Student Rules appeared to prohibit students without a close relative in the UK enrolling as weekly or flexi boarders. However, the Child Student Guidance confirms that the Immigration Rules and corresponding sections of the Child Student Visa Application form will only be updated later in the year to reflect this important concession.

• Under the new Child Student Visa rules, ‘Nominated Guardians’ will now have to meet the same Child Student visa application requirements as for close relatives and private foster carers. This means the ‘Nominated Guardian’, private foster carer or close relative must be a British Citizen or settled in the UK. The Nominated Guardian must also now provide a ‘Letter of Undertaking’ with the Child Student’s visa application confirming certain information about the proposed UK care arrangements and their contact details. This Letter of Undertaking will be in addition to the Parental Consent letter requirement at visa application stage.
• The Child Student Guidance also provides helpful clarification about the Letter of Undertaking where a guardianship organisation (as opposed to say a UK based family friend) has been appointed by the Child Student’s parents as their son or daughter’s ‘Nominated Guardian’ in the UK. The Child Student Guidance confirms, for instance, it is sufficient the ‘named contact’ at the guardianship organisation is British or settled in the UK. It will also be acceptable for only the guardianship organisation details to be provided where a homestay outside of term time for the sponsored boarder has not yet been arranged at the point the Child Student visa application is submitted.
• The Child Student Guidance also helpfully confirms that the list of six formal permitted UK living arrangements does not prevent Child Student visa holders staying with their parents in the UK outside of term time (if they are visiting the UK), attending a study camp or staying with a friend for the weekend – provided parental consent is obtained by the Child Student sponsor.
• Under the new Child Student Visa Rules, Home Office caseworkers will have broader powers to refuse a Child Student Visa application where the Child Student’s intended UK carer has committed a relevant criminal offence, or where they are not satisfied there are appropriate care, living and, where applicable, guardianship arrangements in place for the applicant’s safety whilst in the UK. An example of a relevant criminal offence is one in the UK or overseas for which the person has received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more. This power to refuse a Child Student Visa application on criminality grounds extends to anyone ‘regularly living with the Nominated Guardian’.
• The Child Student Guidance also confirms that for Child Students aged 16 or 17 and able to live independently in the UK, it is not a mandatory visa requirement to have a ‘Nominated Guardian’ in the UK. Indeed, where such an applicant does not have a ‘Nominated Guardian’, this should not adversely affect their Child Student visa application.
• However, the Child Student Guidance confirms that all Child Student visa holders should have an emergency contact for their time in the UK. The emergency contact in the UK can be the school sponsor where the Child Student visa holder is not required to have a ‘Nominated Guardian’ in the UK (e.g 16/17 year old and living independently). The Child Student Guidance makes clear that, in these circumstances, the school must be able to provide “sufficient support and oversight during the child’s stay in the UK” - including arranging contact information in case of an emergency outside of school.

New Record Keeping and Reporting Duties on Child Student Sponsors

• The Home Office has also introduced a new record keeping duty on Child Student Sponsors to make reasonable efforts to collect information on travel arrangements for sponsored students with a ‘Nominated Guardian’. Sponsors will have to:
• • Keep records of when the student is arriving;
  • Record details of the person collecting the student;
  • Record where the student will be staying if they are not proceeding directly to school; and
  • Report to the relevant authority if the student does not arrive at school.
• The Child Student Guidance also confirms that this new duty to collect travel information also extends to a sponsored Child Student’s departure from the UK - not just their UK arrival. It is clear that the Home Office wants Child Student sponsors to have more oversight in relation to a sponsored student’s UK travel and reception arrangements, especially as sponsored boarders can arrive in the UK up to one month before their UK course start date. The Home Office rationale for this new duty to record information re travel arrangements is also because ‘Nominated Guardians’ do not fall within the safeguarding remit of Local Authorities in the way that private foster carers do.
• Although the new duty to record travel arrangements only extends to sponsored boarders with a ‘Nominated Guardian’, the Child Student Guidance makes clear that sponsors should consider collating similar information on UK arrival and departure as best safeguarding practice for all their sponsored students under the age of 18.
• The Child Student Guidance also confirms that Child Student Sponsors will be required to retain a copy of the Letter of Undertaking (where this is required by the Child Student visa applicant) as part of their sponsor record keeping duties.
• Where the UK living arrangements change after a sponsored Child Student has enrolled, the Child Student Guidance confirms that such a change does not currently need to be reported to the UKVI provided:
  • The new UK living arrangement falls within one of the six permitted UK living arrangements under the Child Student visa rules; and
  • The Child Student Sponsor obtains updated copies of Parental Consent and Letter of Undertaking (if required) to the new UK living arrangement.
• However, the Child Student Guidance also confirms that a Child Student Sponsor should report to the Home Office if a sponsored student’s UK living arrangements change after enrolment and no longer falls within one of the six permitted UK living arrangements. Any such report to the Home Office should also outline what steps have been taken to rectify this.

Actions for Child Student sponsors in light of Child Student Visa Rule changes

For many sponsored Child Students in all types of permitted boarding arrangements, the safeguarding rule changes introduce a new visa requirement to have a ‘Nominated Guardian’ in the UK when they are outside the school’s care. In force with effect from 29^th May 2025, this eligibility requirement means that a Letter of Undertaking will be a new supporting mandatory document with a sponsored boarder’s Child Student visa application.

However, the new child safeguarding measures mean that all Child Student sponsors – not just boarding school sponsors - need to be far more diligent about checking a Child Student’s UK living and care arrangements before a CAS is assigned. Child Student sponsors need to update their internal processes and policies in light of the upcoming Child Student visa changes to remain compliant with their sponsor duties and also protect their visa refusal rates for Basic Compliance Assessment purposes.

In particular, student sponsors should check:

• What are the intended UK care and living arrangements for the prospective Child Student?
• Do such UK care and living arrangements fall within one of the six permissible UK living arrangements?
• Are such UK care and living arrangements appropriate for that particular student and do they present no safeguarding risks? This assessment is also important for sponsored day students aged 16 or 17 who have the right to live independently in the UK as one of the six permissible living arrangements. All Child Student visa holders also require an emergency contact for their time in the UK so such details must always be obtained, even where they are not required to have a ‘Nominated Guardian’ in the UK.
• What are the proposed UK travel and reception arrangements for the prospective Child Student?
• Child Student sponsors should also ensure that mandatory parental consent letters and letters of undertaking (where applicable) are obtained and retained on file, again ideally before a CAS is assigned. Child Student sponsors must also obtain updated parental consent letters and letters of undertaking (where applicable) where UK living arrangements change after enrolment.

The Child Student Guidance confirms that the new safeguarding rules only apply to Child Student Visa applications made on or after 29^th May 2025 and therefore will not retrospectively apply to existing Child Student visa holders (or those granted a Child Student Visa before 29 May 2025).

Contact us

If you have any queries about how the new Child Student safeguarding rules affect your education institution and international students, please contact our Immigration team or submit an enquiry form, below.