EHRC calls for national training standards for the restraint of children

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) today published its response to the Department for Education’s consultation on its ‘Use of reasonable force and other restrictive interventions guidance’. 

The equality regulator and National Human Rights Institution’s response calls on the UK government to make several substantial changes to the advice, including a commitment to developing national training standards for restraint, and requirements for schools to record restrictive interventions.   

Following on from its own inquiry into restraint in schools (2021), the EHRC is again recommending that the government’s guidance is reframed in line with the Human Rights Framework for Restraint. This would mean placing the rights of children at the centre of the guidance, with minimising restraint as the starting point.  

John Kirkpatrick, Chief Executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said:   

“Many elements of the Department for Education’s proposed guidance on restraint, align with our inquiry recommendations and restraint framework. 

“These include improvements to the definitions of restraint and statutory sections explaining new legal requirements to record and report use of force.  

“There are, however, still significant gaps. The proposed guidance positions important considerations like necessity and proportionality as optional, where they are in fact legally required. This potentially places both staff and children in jeopardy.    

“We are calling on the Department for Education to reframe the guidance to consider key human rights principles and introduce a national training standard for the restraint of children.” 

The EHRC’s consultation response also argues that the proposed guidance uses imprecise definitions of ‘reasonable force’ and ‘seclusion’. It advises that these definitions are standardised and informed by human rights law principles. In the process of conducting its School Restraint Inquiry, the EHRC was told by many on the frontline that nationally agreed definitions of restraint, and other terms, would be beneficial to teachers. 

Another recommendation made by the EHRC is for guidance to include further information on obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty and requirements to make reasonable adjustments.  

The EHRC has accepted several updates to the guidance, including a new expectation for schools to develop policies on reasonable force and other restrictive interventions, aligned with equality law legal duties.