Parents could be warned against buying a mobile phone for their children until they start secondary school

By JASON GROVES, POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 23:00, 7 June 2026 | Updated: 23:01, 7 June 2026 Parents could be warned against buying their children a smartphone until they reach secondary school under plans being drawn up by ministers. A consultation on screen use by under-16s will consider whether parents should be given advice on the appropriate age for children to be allowed to use a phone. The review will be co-chaired by Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza, who has previously said that pre-secondary age children are 'too young' to be using internet-enabled devices. Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips suggested on Sunday that smartphones should be restricted to adults. Ms Phillips quit the Government partly over failure to take action to protect children online.  She said the belief held by some parents that giving their child a phone can help keep them safer was 'the greatest lie ever peddled by the technology companies'. She told Times Radio: 'From what I have seen, when we give our children a smartphone, under current regulations what you are giving – not to them but to the paedophiles of this world – is direct access to your children.'  The review will produce guidelines on 'healthy screen use' for children aged five to 16.  Parents could be warned against buying their children a smartphone until they reach secondary school Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said smartphones give paedophiles 'direct access' to children A similar review has suggested that the under-fives should spend no more than an hour a day on screens. The study will also look at the use of screens in schools. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said it would be wrong to 'turn back the clock and return to a world of pens and paper'.  But she said parents also needed help to 'navigate challenges previous generations never faced'. Dame Rachel said: 'Young people get huge benefits from technology – but they find it hard to put their devices down. 'Children and adults want clear, trustworthy information and guidance on screen use alongside action to remove explicit and harmful content and features.'  Ministers are also poised to unveil plans for a crackdown on technology that allows children to share intimate images of themselves and others. Ms Phillips said tech firms had the ability to make it impossible for naked images of children to be taken or shared. She said nudity filters 'already exist on the phones that everybody has in front of them today'. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.