Councils can now recommend all secondary schools in their area introduce masks in communal spaces without needing government approval to prevent disruption caused by Covid outbreaks.

The Department for Education said that, in local areas with high or rapidly rising coronavirus cases, local decisions on masks can be taken for the remainder of the autumn term.

Previously, local public health directors needed central government to sign off on schools across a council area being asked to introduce extra Covid restrictions.

Now, updated government guidance says that local public health directors can recommend masks be worn in the communal areas of schools “across areas of high or rapidly increasing Covid prevalence, where increased lateral flow testing and actions to increase vaccination uptake among eligible staff, pupils and students are also being advised”.

The guidance still says that primary school pupils and early years children should not be advised to wear face coverings, and that mask-wearing in classrooms across an area can only be recommended in places that have been given an “enhanced response package” or classed as “enduring transmission” areas by the government.

Exclusive: More than one in four areas ask schools to take extra Covid steps

Long read: Fears over school closures as cases of Covid soar

Related: Councils order masks in schools to stem Covid absence

Local councils were already able to recommend mask-wearing at individual schools or in clusters of schools. The tightening of the Covid contingency framework means that they can now make area-wide recommendations for schools.

The updated Covid contingency planning from the government comes as Tes revealed that at least one in four council areas in England have already made area-wide recommendations for schools to enhance Covid restrictions.

In total, 39 local education authorities out of the 81 that responded told Tes they had made area-wide recommendations to schools, with the vast majority calling for masks to be worn in communal areas.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Local directors of public health have had a longstanding ability to advise the temporary use of face coverings in school communal areas to manage a Covid outbreak.

“We are giving local directors of public health additional flexibility so they can temporarily advise that face coverings are worn in communal areas, in local areas experiencing high or rapidly increasing case rates.

“This is a temporary measure for the autumn term and should be introduced alongside additional testing and ongoing efforts to drive up vaccinations. Local directors of public health should review additional measures on face coverings regularly, and remove them when case rates decline.”

Mask-wearing in secondary school communal areas was recommended by the government at the end of the last national lockdown in March, but this was then lifted in May.

According to the updated government guidance, face coverings in communal areas of schools may temporarily be advised by directors of public health:

• for an individual school, as part of their responsibilities in outbreak management; or
• for schools across areas of high or rapidly increasing prevalence, where increased lateral flow testing and actions to increase vaccination uptake among eligible staff, pupils and students are also being advised.

Face coverings in classrooms may temporarily be advised by directors of public health:

• for individual schools as part of their responsibilities in outbreak management; or
• for schools across areas that have been offered an enhanced response package, or are in an enduring transmission area, where settings and directors of public health decide it is appropriate.

It adds that councils should continue to ensure that any “educational and wellbeing drawbacks” of the use of face coverings should be “balanced with the benefits in managing transmission”.

School leaders welcome national guidance

Reacting to the updated guidance, school leaders at the Schools and Academies Show told Tes that having direction on Covid measures from central government made it easier for them to avoid opposition from parents.

Jane Hingley, associate principal at the United Endeavour Trust in Newcastle, said: “There has been that discrepancy between national guidelines and local authority guidelines that has confused parents, [which means] there has been little interest in wearing face coverings [among students] because it is not [in the] national guidelines.

“If it means wearing a face covering and therefore we don’t have to go back to bubbles, wonderful, we will do it,” she added.

Lois Newton, associate principal at the United Endeavour Trust, said national guidance makes enforcing measures easier.

“When we are given separate rules to everyone else, our parents don’t understand that. It works better when we are told what is going to happen. When it is up to a headteacher’s discretion…that’s where it’s difficult.”

Commenting on wearing masks in schools, Katie Dixon, a principal at the Frank Field Education Trust, said: “It can make teaching difficult, especially for the children and especially for children with SEND.”

But she added: “I think it is useful when guidance comes from the government. When it is left up to the school, I am not a health expert. Going through the pandemic it was always easier to say to parents that this guidance has come from the government.”