The Government has confirmed that it will introduce restrictions of some form on children’s use of social media following the conclusion of its consultation.

The announcement came during the final stages of the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. While a piece of legislation addressing matters such as breakfast clubs, school uniforms, and attendance might seem an odd place for Government ministers to address changes to the online safety regime, it follows recent attempts by members of the House of Lords to introduce amendments to the Bill banning social media for under 16s.

Ultimately, those attempts proved unsuccessful, as the Government maintained its position that it would wait for the outcome of its consultation on keeping children safe online before considering what steps to take. As we’ve discussed previously (here), that consultation seeks views on various measures that might be introduced, ranging from a blanket ban on social media for under 16s, to restrictions on various addictive functionalities (many of which are currently the subject of pilot schemes as discussed here).

However, the Government’s position appeared to shift during the closing stages of the debate on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. Addressing the Lords’ amendment and the wider question of children’s access to social media, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, Olivia Bailey, said:

“The Government have said repeatedly that it is a question of how we act, not if, but to put this beyond any doubt, we are placing a clear statutory requirement that the Secretary of State “must”, rather than “may”, act following the consultation…

…Let us be clear: the status quo cannot continue. We are consulting on the mechanism, which is the right thing to do, but we are clear that under any outcome we will impose some form of age or functionality for children under 16. I can also confirm that consideration of restrictions such as curfews will be in addition to that, not instead of it. As the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has said, we are focused on addictive features, harmful algorithmically-driven content and features such as stranger pairing, which we know can be most damaging to children’s safety and privacy”.

In practice, this means that businesses should prepare for restrictions of some sort to be introduced, and soon: in addition to the wide-ranging powers granted to the Secretary of State to introduce regulations imposing various restrictions and changing the digital age of consent, the Act also requires that a ‘progress statement’ must be published by 29 July 2026 setting out what steps have been taken so far to make the first set of regulations, and that they must be introduced by 29 July 2027.

While the Government’s position may appear to be something of a fait accompli, the legislation makes clear that the Secretary of State must “have regard to” the responses to its consultation, making it all the more important that interested parties make their views known.

To read more about the Act, click here. To respond to the consultation by 26 May 2026, click here.