What should happen if my child has a medical condition and needs extra support in order to attend school?

The school’s duty to support pupils with medical conditions

If your child goes to:

• a maintained school
• an academy (but not a 16-19 academy), or
• a pupil referral unit,

the governing body or proprietor (in the case of an academy) “must make arrangements for supporting pupils at the school with medical conditions”. This is a legal duty on them under section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014. All medical conditions must be supported, whether they are physical or mental health needs.  

The Government’s statutory guidance explains to schools, parents and carers how this duty should be carried out.

The guidance clearly says that schools should make sure that:

• reintegration back into school is properly supported so that children with medical conditions fully engage with learning and do not fall behind when they are unable to attend (paragraph 3)
• arrangements are in place to support pupils with medical needs so that they can access and enjoy the same opportunities at school as any other child (paragraph 5), and
• staff are properly trained to provide the support that pupils need (paragraph 7).

The school should agree an individual healthcare plan with you. This will set out how your child’s health needs will be met, including when and by whom, and whether any staff training is needed.

The school must also have a written policy regarding pupils with medical conditions and how they will be supported. This should be available on the school website or on request.

The statutory guidance Working together to improve school attendance (applicable from 19 August 2024) says schools are not expected to routinely request that parents provide medical evidence to support illness absences. In the majority of cases a parent’s notification that their child is too ill to attend school will be that evidence and can be accepted without question or concern. Only where the school has genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness should medical evidence be requested to support the absence. Where medical evidence is deemed necessary, school should not be rigid about the form of evidence requested and should speak to you about what evidence is available (paragraphs 365 and 366 of the guidance applicable from 19 August 2024).

The school’s duties relating to disability

If your child’s medical condition amounts to a disability, all settings have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to make arrangements to make sure that they can access education without significant disadvantage. This is the case even if your child attends an independent school.  

What happens if my child is unable to attend school due to a medical condition?

The local authority’s duty to provide suitable alternative education

If:

• your child is of compulsory school age
• they have been recorded as absent due to illness and 
• there are reasonable grounds to believe, that because of illness, they will have to miss 15 consecutive school days or more, or the total number of school days missed during the current school year (whether consecutive or cumulative) will reach or exceed 15 school days

the school has a legal duty to tell your local authority (LA) this as soon as possible via something called a “sickness return” (Regulation 13 (9) of The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 and paragraph 58 of Working together to improve school attendance (applicable from 19 August 2024).

Your LA has a legal duty to secure suitable, full-time alternative education for children of compulsory school age who would not otherwise receive it due to illness, exclusion or another reason (section 19 of the Education Act 1996).

The statutory guidance called: 'Arranging education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs' says (page 7) as soon as it is clear that a child will be away from school for 15 days or more because of their health needs, the local authority should arrange suitable alternative provision, it should begin as soon as possible and at the latest by the sixth day of the absence.

You’ll see from this guidance (page 8) that supporting medical evidence should be used to understand your child’s needs and the most suitable provision for them. Your LA may expect this to come from a consultant, but the guidance states:

“Local authorities, working closely with the child’s home school, medical practitioners (such as a GP or consultant) and the child’s family, should make every effort to minimise the disruption to a child’s education by identifying the most suitable provision.

Where specific medical evidence, such as that provided by a medical practitioner, is not readily available, the child’s home school or the local authority should consider liaising with other medical practitioners and consider other evidence to ensure appropriate provision can be arranged as soon as possible.”

Your LA should work with appropriate medical professionals to avoid delays in arranging appropriate provision for your child. If your LA has not provided this education, you should write to your LA and request that it puts alternative education in place.

The education provided for your child must be suitable. This means that it is suitable to your child’s age, their ability and aptitude, and any special educational needs they may have. If you feel the arrangements your LA has proposed for your child are not suitable, you should let your LA know this and why and request that the arrangements change, so that they are suitable.

The education provided must also be full time. “Full-time education” is not defined in law, and LAs will often only offer a few hours of home tuition per week. However, the guidance states (page 4) that this should be “good quality education equivalent to that provided in mainstream schools, as far as the child’s health needs allow.” If a child receives one-to-one tuition the hours could be fewer than the number of hours they would’ve been at school as the education may be more intensive (page 10).

It would be unlawful for the LA to withhold or reduce the provision, or type of provision, for a child because of how much it will cost. Your LA must not have a policy that limits a child’s education to a specified number of hours per week due to cost or availability. The only time your child should receive part-time education is if it is in their best interests, based on their needs only.

If illness has affected your child’s free school meals, or you are not sure whether your child is eligible for free school meals, you may find these resources produced by Contact helpful.

If you haven’t been able to find the answer to your question on this page, you may find it helpful to look at our FAQs.

Illness FAQs