The short answer
The DfE guidance splits visits into two groups. Routine visits carry an everyday level of risk and are covered by your normal school policies. Anything beyond that, because of distance, activity, location or the specialist staff needed, needs a proper risk assessment and the informed approval of the headteacher and the governing board.
Two kinds of visit
The guidance describes routine trips, such as a walk to a local library or a visit that stays within the activities your school already does, as needing only an everyday level of risk, covered by existing policies. It says plans should be proportionate and sensible.
Other trips need more. These include visits that go beyond your current policies because of the distance, the type of activity, the location, or the need for specialist staff. Trips abroad need a higher level of risk assessment, and adventure activities such as caving, climbing, trekking and watersports have their own section in the guidance.
| Kind of visit | What the guidance expects |
|---|---|
| Routine, everyday level of risk | Covered by existing school policies. Keep plans proportionate. |
| Beyond current policies (distance, activity, location, specialist staff) | A risk assessment and the informed approval of the headteacher and governing board. |
| Adventure activities | Identify and risk assess them before the visit. Do not add them on the day. |
| Trips abroad | A higher level of risk assessment. |
Who approves a trip
For trips that need a risk assessment, the guidance says the headteacher and the governing board give informed approval. The guidance does not set out a fuller approval process than that, so the detail is for your school or trust to decide in its own policy.
The guidance also describes the educational visits co-ordinator (EVC). They should be an experienced visits leader with the status to guide colleagues, work with the outdoor education adviser to help staff assess and manage risk, and advise headteachers and governors when they approve trips. If a school has no EVC, the headteacher takes on that duty.
Many local authorities and trusts add their own rules on top, for example requiring notification of trips abroad or adventurous activities. Check your employer’s policy, because it may be stricter than the national guidance.
Risk assessment
The person managing a higher-risk trip should understand the risks and be familiar with the activity. The guidance also asks schools to keep records of incidents, accidents and near-misses, and to evaluate each visit from planning through to completion.
Schools should have an emergency response plan for incidents away from school, and a communications plan covering routine check-ins and reassurance calls. The trip leader should know both plans before leaving.
The guidance does not set staff-to-pupil ratios. It points instead to staff competence, the co-ordinator’s role in judging who can lead a visit, and, for watersports, the need to consider instructors and lifeguards. Ratios are commonly set by employer policy and the OEAP National Guidance, so check what applies to you.
Parental consent
The guidance says:
- ✓Written consent is always required for nursery-age children.
- ✓For older pupils, written consent is usually needed only for trips that need a higher level of risk assessment, or that take place outside normal school hours.
- ✓Schools can get consent once, on a form at enrolment, covering the child's whole time at the school.
- ✓Parents should still be told about every such trip and given the chance to withdraw their child.
Whichever route you choose, you need to be able to show who agreed to what, and when. That is a record-keeping problem as much as a legal one.
Using outside providers
If you use an outside organisation, check it has appropriate safety standards and public liability insurance. Where a provider does not hold the LOtC Quality Badge, the guidance says you should also check its insurance, legal compliance, risk assessments, staff competence, safeguarding and any sub-contracting. Adventure activity providers should hold a licence where one is needed.
Costs and charging
What schools can and cannot charge families for is set out in the Department for Education’s guidance on charging for school activities, and it can change. We have left the detail out on purpose, so please read the current guidance and your own charging and remissions policies rather than relying on a summary.
Common mistakes
- ✓Treating a trip as routine when the distance, activity or location puts it beyond your current policies.
- ✓Approving by email or a corridor conversation, with nothing that shows who signed off and when.
- ✓Adding an adventure activity on the day that was not risk assessed beforehand.
- ✓Collecting consent without a record of which pupils are covered by which form.
- ✓Losing the post-trip evaluation, so the same problems recur next year.
Practical steps for your school
- ✓Write a short visits policy that says which trips are routine and which need full approval.
- ✓Name your EVC, and make sure the headteacher and governors know how approvals reach them.
- ✓Use one form for every visit, covering staffing, costs, the risk assessment and the emergency plan.
- ✓Record each approval with the name and date, in the same place as the trip documents.
- ✓Keep consent, medical information and parent contact details together and easy to reach on the day.
- ✓Check costs and charging against the current DfE guidance and your own charging policy.
- ✓Evaluate each visit afterwards and keep a note of any incidents or near-misses.
If you also welcome outside speakers or contractors onto site, see our guide on visitor sign-in and safeguarding.
One form, one approval trail
TripHub takes a visit through one guided form and moves it through your approval chain with the costs and documents attached, so every sign-off is recorded.
See TripHub →Sources
This article is based on the Department for Education’s published guidance, last checked on 28 October 2026. Read the originals for the full detail:
This article is general information to help school staff understand the issues. It is not legal advice, and the guidance it refers to can change. Your local authority or trust may also set stricter rules. For decisions about a specific visit, refer to the current GOV.UK guidance, your employer’s visits policy and your EVC.