Physical intervention in schools: guidance

Reporting, recording and monitoring

Reporting

85. Parents and carers of the child or young person who was subject to restraint or seclusion should be notified at the earliest possible opportunity. This must take place as soon as possible during the school day and, exceptionally, within 24 hours of restraint or seclusion being used where it has not been possible to make contact or unless alternative contact arrangements have been agreed. The use of restraint and seclusion should be reported to the education authority, the managers of the grant-aided school or the proprietors of the independent school within two working days, with the full written record shared within five working days.

Recording

86. The use of restraint and seclusion must be recorded in line with the recording expectations listed in Annex B.

87. Recording should be completed within five working days of restraint or seclusion being used and shared with the child or young person’s education provider for monitoring purposes. Where a child or young person attends an independent or grant-aided special school via an education authority placement, the placing education authority should also receive a copy of the record within the same timescale. The record should also be shared with the child or young person’s social worker, where appropriate, within five working days. Parent, carers and the child or young person subject to the restraint or seclusion should be proactively provided with a copy of the incident record. Information should be provided in accordance with data protection law.

88. Annex E lists the information that schools should record following the use of restraint and seclusion. While it is recognised that education providers will use a variety of different systems for recording the use of restraint and seclusion, it is important that the information listed in Annex E is included in all recording systems currently in use to ensure a consistency of approach.

89. The following advice is relevant for residential schools. The Care Inspectorate requires to be notified of the use of restraint and seclusion (see definitions in Records that all registered children and young people’s care services must keep and guidance on notification reporting) that occur within the care service, or where care service staff are responsible for the child or young person involved. This does not include the reporting of restraint or seclusion which occur within the education setting or where education staff are responsible for the child or young person involved. The expectations for reporting outlined in Annex B apply to the use of restraint and seclusion in the provision of school education services. Where there is any ambiguity about who the responsible member of staff was at the time of the incident, and which reporting procedure to follow, the school leadership team should confirm this for reporting purposes.

90. To further support the use of preventative approaches, education providers should have appropriate recording and monitoring processes in place to aid the analysis of distressed behaviour. As part of this, schools should also document within the establishment the successful use of co-regulation, de-escalation and pupil and staff-led withdrawal.

91. Staff should update the child or young person’s support plan with the agreed preventative approaches and co-regulation and de-escalation strategies to reduce the likelihood of restraint and seclusion being used again. Where no support plan is in place consideration should be given to developing one. Pastoral notes should also be updated on the school information management system (SEEMiS) or the equivalent school system, where appropriate.

92. In line with a rights-based approach, care should be taken to use impartial, non-stigmatising language in all records of restraint and seclusion.

Child protection referrals

93. Staff should inform police and social work without delay in the following circumstances:

• if a child or young person has been physically injured or is considered to have suffered significant harm as a result of restraint or seclusion;
• if there is a concern that an offence may have been committed by a member of staff towards a child or young person arising from the use of restraint or seclusion;
• when a child or young person, their parents or carers raise safety and wellbeing concerns following the use, or repeated use, of restraint or seclusion.

94. Children and young people and their parents or carers can also initiate a child protection referral by the following routes:

• Informing school staff or the education provider that they believe they/their child has been mistreated. This can be done at any point following the use of restraint or seclusion. Staff must then make a child protection referral.
• Exercising their right to make a complaint to the police about the use of restraint or seclusion.

95. Employers may put in place measures under local disciplinary procedures while a child protection investigation is ongoing. Education providers and headteachers should be mindful of the need to provide appropriate support to any staff who are undergoing investigation.

96. The National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland details the process that should be followed along with the information that should be recorded and provided to Social Work or Police Scotland. Information on initiating child protection procedures can be found in Part 3 of the Child Protection Guidance. The guidance also discusses child protection issues arising from the use of restraint.

97. Child protection procedures will be initiated when police, social work or health determine that a child may have been significantly harmed or may be at risk of significant harm. The child protection investigation will include any suspected offences by a member of staff towards a child or young person arising from the use of restraint or seclusion.

98. Any injuries to a child or young person following the use of restraint or seclusion should also be investigated under agreed local disciplinary procedures.

Health and Safety reporting and recording

99. The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013 require employers and those in control of work premises to report certain serious workplace accidents and specified dangerous occurrences. RIDDOR requires accidents to be reported if they happen 'out of or in connection with work'. Injuries arising from restraint or seclusion could therefore be reportable under RIDDOR.

100. In addition to those specified, injuries to employees must be reported where they result in an employee being away from work, or unable to perform their normal work duties, for more than seven consecutive days as the result of their injury. This seven-day period does not include the day of the incident but does include weekends and rest days. The report must be made within 15 days of the incident happening.

101. Injuries to children and young people (and other non-workers) are reportable if the injured person is taken from the scene of the accident to hospital and receives treatment for the injury. ‘Treatment’ does not include examination or diagnostic tests or being taken to hospital as a precaution. For further guidance see ‘Incident reporting in schools (accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences): Guidance for employers’.

102. Injuries must also be recorded, but not reported, where they result in a worker being incapacitated for more than three consecutive days. For education providers, who must keep an accident book under the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1979, that record will be enough. However, it is recognised that education authorities may require reporting to occur to ensure risk assessments can be conducted and appropriate risk mitigations adopted.

Monitoring

103. Regular monitoring and analysis of the use of restraint and seclusion is essential to minimising their use. Education authorities, the proprietors (such as the Board of Governors) of independent schools and the managers of grant-aided schools should regularly review restraint and seclusion data to identify and act upon any emerging trends. This will help refocus efforts on preventative approaches to distressed behaviour and less restrictive alternatives to restraint and seclusion. It will also support local accountability and challenge, a focus on meeting children and young people’s needs, respecting their rights and the appropriate application of the duty of care towards children and young people and the adults who support them.

104. Regular monitoring of restraint and seclusion data by the school leadership team and the education provider will also enable any concerns about the misuse of restraint and seclusion to be to be investigated and addressed through appropriate action.

Communication within the school community

105. All members of the school community (parents, carers, children and young people and school staff) should be aware of the local physical intervention policy covering the use of restraint and seclusion, reporting expectations following any incident and how to raise any concerns. Local policies should be readily available in a variety of formats that are easily accessible and understood by all children and young people, their parents or carers and staff within the school community. This should involve translation into the languages of the school community, where necessary, and include translation into visual formats.

106. Information on, or links to, the education provider’s physical intervention policy covering the use of restraint and seclusion should be included within the school handbook.