--- title: "UK Online Safety Act FAQ" canonical_url: "https://www.sorena.io/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/faq" source_url: "https://www.sorena.io/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/faq" author: "Sorena AI" description: "Practical FAQ on the UK Online Safety Act covering who is in scope, what changed in 2025, child access and risk assessments, age assurance, category duties." published_at: "2026-02-21" updated_at: "2026-02-21" keywords: - "UK Online Safety Act FAQ" - "Ofcom online safety FAQ" - "child access assessment FAQ" - "category 1 FAQ" - "UK OSA FAQ" - "Ofcom FAQ" - "child access assessment" - "category duties" --- **[SORENA](https://www.sorena.io/)** - AI-Powered GRC Platform [Home](https://www.sorena.io/) | [Solutions](https://www.sorena.io/solutions) | [Artifacts](https://www.sorena.io/artifacts) | [About Us](https://www.sorena.io/about-us) | [Contact](https://www.sorena.io/contact) | [Portal](https://app.sorena.io) --- # UK Online Safety Act FAQ Practical FAQ on the UK Online Safety Act covering who is in scope, what changed in 2025, child access and risk assessments, age assurance, category duties. *FAQ* *Implementation Questions* ## UK Online Safety Act FAQ Use this page to answer the recurring implementation questions with grounded dates and duty splits. Most confusion comes from mixing child access, child risk, category duties, and complaints duties into one undifferentiated program. These are the questions that usually slow programs down: what is in scope, what changed in 2025, when age assurance became urgent, how child duties relate to the ICO Children's Code, and where the largest penalty and evidence risks sit. ## Which services are in scope? Search services and services that allow user interaction or user-generated content can be in scope. The analysis must be done service by service, with exemptions and special cases checked before the duty set is finalised. Mixed products often need more than one scoped answer. - Check sections 3 to 5 first - Review Schedule 1 exemptions - Separate user-to-user, search, and provider pornography issues ## What were the key 2025 implementation deadlines? Government materials state that illegal content risk assessments were due by 16 March 2025, child access assessments by 16 April 2025, and children risk assessments by 24 July 2025. Section 81 also came into force on 17 January 2025 after January age assurance guidance for online pornography. Those dates should already be reflected in the evidence file for any relevant service. - 16 March 2025: illegal risk assessment - 16 April 2025: child access assessment - 24 July 2025: children risk assessment ## How does the ICO Children's Code fit with the Act? The Children's Code is a data protection code for information society services likely to be accessed by children. It does not replace UK OSA duties, but it strongly affects how a child-safe service should design privacy defaults, profiling, geolocation, transparency, and age assurance. Treat the regimes as overlapping design constraints, especially on child-facing features. - Use one joint review for child safety and child privacy changes - Check profiling, geolocation, nudge techniques, and defaults - Avoid implementing child safety controls that create new privacy risks *Recommended next step* *Placement: after the FAQ section* ## Use UK Online Safety Act FAQ as a cited research workflow Research Copilot can take UK Online Safety Act FAQ from cited answers to recurring questions on this topic to a reusable workflow inside Sorena. Teams working on UK Online Safety Act can keep owners, evidence, and next steps aligned without copying this guide into separate documents. - [Open Research Copilot for UK Online Safety Act FAQ](/solutions/research-copilot.md): Start from UK Online Safety Act FAQ and answer scope, timing, and interpretation questions with cited outputs. - [Talk through UK Online Safety Act](/contact.md): Review your current process, evidence gaps, and next steps for UK Online Safety Act FAQ. ## Primary sources - [Online Safety Act 2023](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/contents?ref=sorena.io) - Primary legislation for scope, duties, risk assessment, enforcement, transparency, and complaints provisions. - [Online Safety Act explainer](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-explainer/online-safety-act-explainer?ref=sorena.io) - Current government implementation status, deadlines, and plain language explanation of the regime. - [ICO introduction to the Children's Code](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/childrens-information/childrens-code-guidance-and-resources/introduction-to-the-childrens-code/?ref=sorena.io) - ICO explanation of scope for information society services likely to be accessed by children and the 15 standards. - [ICO profiling guidance for age appropriate design](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/advice-and-services/audits/data-protection-audit-framework/toolkits/age-appropriate-design/profiling/?ref=sorena.io) - Detailed control guidance for profiling, DPIAs, age assurance, and child-safe defaults. ## Related Topic Guides - [UK Online Safety Act Age Assurance Options | Age Estimation, Verification, and Child Access Controls](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/age-assurance-options.md): Grounded age assurance guide for the UK Online Safety Act covering January 2025 pornography guidance, highly effective age assurance. - [UK Online Safety Act Applicability Test | Regulated Service, Exemptions, and UK Scope](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/applicability-test.md): Grounded UK Online Safety Act applicability test covering regulated user-to-user and search services, Schedule 1 exemptions, provider pornography scope. - [UK Online Safety Act Checklist | Scope, Risk, Child Safety, Moderation, and Evidence](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/checklist.md): Audit-ready UK Online Safety Act checklist covering service scope, illegal risk assessment, child access and child risk assessment, moderation, complaints. - [UK Online Safety Act Children Safety Duties | Child Access, Child Risk, and Age Assurance](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/children-safety-duties.md): Grounded guide to UK Online Safety Act children safety duties covering section 81 timing, children access assessments, children risk assessments. - [UK Online Safety Act Compliance Program | Governance, Controls, and Ofcom Readiness](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/compliance.md): Program design guide for UK Online Safety Act compliance covering governance, scope, assessments, moderation, age assurance, complaints, metrics. - [UK Online Safety Act Content Moderation and Appeals | Complaints, Terms Enforcement, and Redress](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/content-moderation-and-appeals.md): Grounded guide to UK Online Safety Act moderation and appeals requirements covering sections 21, 32, 71, and 72, complaints design, terms enforcement. - [UK Online Safety Act Deadlines and Compliance Calendar | 2023 to 2026 Milestones](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/deadlines-and-compliance-calendar.md): Grounded UK Online Safety Act calendar covering 26 October 2023 enactment, 31 January 2024 offences, 16 December 2024 illegal harms codes. - [UK Online Safety Act Enforcement and Penalties | Ofcom Notices, Penalties, and Escalation](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/enforcement-and-penalties.md): Grounded UK Online Safety Act enforcement guide covering Ofcom information notices, senior manager naming, confirmation decisions. - [UK Online Safety Act Illegal Content Duties | Illegal Harms, Priority Offences, and Risk Assessments](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/illegal-content-duties-explained.md): Grounded guide to UK Online Safety Act illegal content duties covering user-to-user and search services, illegal content risk assessments. - [UK Online Safety Act Penalties and Fines | GBP 18 Million, 10 Percent Revenue, and Liability](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/penalties-and-fines.md): Grounded penalty guide for the UK Online Safety Act covering the GBP 18 million or 10 percent worldwide revenue cap. - [UK Online Safety Act Requirements | Sections, Deadlines, Controls, and Evidence](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/requirements.md): Detailed UK Online Safety Act requirements guide mapping scope, illegal content duties, child safety duties, terms enforcement, complaints, categorisation. - [UK Online Safety Act Risk Assessment Template | Illegal Content and Child Safety Template](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/online-safety-risk-assessment-template.md): Practical UK Online Safety Act risk assessment template covering service profile, harms inventory, controls, residual risk, child access, child safety. - [UK Online Safety Act Risk Assessments Playbook | How to Run Illegal and Children Risk Reviews](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/risk-assessments-playbook.md): Operational playbook for UK Online Safety Act risk assessments covering sequencing, ownership, evidence collection, control design. - [UK Online Safety Act Service Scope and Categorization | Category 1, 2A, 2B, and Part 3 Logic](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/service-scope-and-categorization.md): Grounded service scope and categorisation guide for the UK Online Safety Act covering Part 3 logic, likely to be accessed by children, Category 1, 2A. - [UK Online Safety Act vs EU Digital Services Act | Scope, Child Safety, and Enforcement Differences](/artifacts/uk/online-safety-act/online-safety-act-vs-dsa.md): Practical comparison of the UK Online Safety Act and the EU Digital Services Act covering regulated service models, illegal content frameworks. --- [Privacy Policy](https://www.sorena.io/privacy) | [Terms of Use](https://www.sorena.io/terms-of-use) | [DMCA](https://www.sorena.io/dmca) | [About Us](https://www.sorena.io/about-us) (c) 2026 Sorena AB (559573-7338). 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