Changing Room & Privacy in Organisations
Ensuring appropriate privacy standards in changing rooms, toilets, and private spaces in organisations working with children.
What is this?
Changing rooms, toilets, and shower facilities in sports clubs, swimming pools, and schools are areas where children are particularly vulnerable. Organisations need clear policies about adult access, supervision, and photography.
How it works
Risk in changing areas usually comes from policy gaps rather than a single bad actor. The recurring patterns are: an adult lingering or undressing in the same space as children, mixed-age changing where younger children are exposed to older peers, phones brought in 'just for music', photos or videos taken as a joke and shared on a group chat, no separate cubicle option for a child who feels unsafe undressing in front of others, and no named staff member responsible for supervising the space from outside the door. The Online Safety Act 2023 and the ICO's Age-Appropriate Design Code both push organisations to be clearer about phones and image capture; KCSiE 2025 expects schools to publish a written changing-and-toileting policy that parents can ask for.
Warning signs
In your child's behaviour
- • Reluctance to use changing facilities
- • Reports of adults being present inappropriately
- • Concerns about privacy or being photographed
On their device
- • Photos taken in changing areas shared online
Prevention steps
Check organisation policies
Ask about their changing room supervision policy. Adults should not routinely be in changing areas with children.
Discuss body boundaries
Remind your child that their body is private and they have the right to privacy when changing.
No phones in changing rooms
Ensure your child knows phones should never be used in changing areas — no photos, no videos, no exceptions.
What to do if it happens
- 1Take your child's report seriously
- 2Report to the organisation's safeguarding lead
- 3Contact local authorities if you believe a crime has occurred
Related topics
If you need to report this
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.
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Last reviewed: 2026-03-29