Revised guidance on restrictive interventions in schools - CBF Statement

The Department for Education has published revised guidance on restrictive interventions in schools. The guidance and new legal duties to record and report restrictive interventions and will come into force 1st April 2026.

On Thursday 18th December, the Department for Education published updated guidance for schools in England on ‘Restrictive interventions, including use of reasonable force, in schools: Guidance for schools in England’. They also introduced new legal duties on schools to underpin the guidance. This follows a public consultation held between 4th February and 29th April 2025, which sought views on updating the 2013 ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance.

The changes mean that, from April 2026, there will be a new legal duty which will require schools to record restrictive practices (including seclusion) and report them to parents and carers. The updated guidance encourages teachers to work in partnership with parents to co-produce behaviour support plans to prevent the use of restrictive practices.

Families have raised serious concerns about the misuse of restraint and seclusion in schools for many years. These practices cause significant physical and psychological harm to children.

The requirement to record and report is therefore welcome and a change which families and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation have campaigned for.

However, serious gaps remain. The guidance fails to fully recognise the rights of the child and reflect that the misuse of restrictive practices can often go beyond individual actions and instead reflect a culture of organisational abuse and closed cultures. This systemic nature of harm needs to be addressed alongside individual failings in order to safeguard children, and staff, from harm. The widespread misuse of force should be addressed as a safeguarding failure at an organisational level as well as an individual one

During the consultation the Challenging Behaviour Foundation and others called for the Department for Education to ban the use of seclusion as there is clear evidence of harm and trauma. Seclusion is an outdated and inhumane practice which can cause long-lasting emotional harm and is more likely to escalate distress than reduce it, resulting in exacerbated challenging behaviour. There have been multiple cases – including Whitefield School highlighted by BBC Panorama– showing the harms of seclusion. The Department for Education have missed an opportunity to end this outdated practice.

Training standards have not been introduced to support schools to implement this guidance. Whilst the guidance states staff who use restrictive interventions should be ‘adequately trained’, the guidance fails to set out minimum standards or commit to further policy development on this. This is despite an explicit recommendation from the Equality and Human Rights Commission and strong support noted in the consultation. We urge the DfE to bring this forward as a matter of urgency. Without national standards of training that take a human rights approach and prioritise prevention, practice will continue to vary widely, leaving children at risk.

Jacqui Shurlock, CEO of the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, said:

“Many families have shared the serious harm caused to their children through the use of restrictive practices in schools. We welcome the new legal duty which from April 2026 will require schools to record restrictive practices and report them to parents and carers. It seems unbelievable that, at present, families do not have to be informed if their child has been restrained or secluded at school so this change is important for children’s welfare and for transparency and accountability. We are pleased that the updated guidance encourages teachers to work in partnership with parents to co-produce behaviour support plans to prevent the use of restrictive practices. Partnership working and a focus on meeting the needs of children with learning disabilities is key to reducing the use of restrictive practices.

However, guidance alone will not keep children safe. This guidance has been published on the last day of term and it is not clear what support schools will be given to implement the changes. The Department for Education must now act with urgency to introduce national training standards to turn these commitments into real change. Without national standards of training that take a human rights approach and prioritise prevention, it is likely that practice will continue to vary widely, leaving children at risk of harm whilst at school.”

Updated guidance

In the New Year the CBF will provide further information on the improvements made in the current guidance including the requirement for schools to have a policy which references the schools’ legal duties to disabled children under the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998 and for governing bodies to regularly review data on the use of restrictive interventions to improve practice and reduce the use.
Alongside the revised guidance, the Government has commenced section 93A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and introduced the Schools (Recording and Reporting of Seclusion and Restraint) (No.2) (England) Regulations 2025. Together, these underpin the guidance and place new legal duties on schools to record and report the use of force, seclusion and non-force restraint.

You can read the full new guidance here:
Use of reasonable force – 1st April 2026

You can also read our briefing paper, published during the consultation process, that gives more detail on what changes are needed to uphold the rights of children with learning disabilities:

Briefing paper: use of reasonable force

Physical interventions

Support from the CBF  – Family Support Service 

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, you can call the Family Support Service on 0300 666 0126 or email us at support@thecbf.org.uk 

We are open at the following times: 

• Monday – Thursday: 9am – 5pm
• Friday: 9am – 3pm 

Please note: the CBF, including our Family Support Service is closed from Tuesday 23rd December reopening on Monday 5th January. If you or someone you support finds themselves in need of urgent help or a crisis situation arises during the festive period, please refer to our crisis support information. 

We offer information about challenging behaviour to anyone who provides support to a child, young person or adult with a severe learning disability. We can also signpost you to other specialist organisations and sources of information. 

Please note we are a small support service so you may not be able to get support straight away. We will support families with urgent concerns as a priority. 

Professionals are also welcome to contact the CBF.