Children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities are more likely to experience restrictive interventions at school, such as:

• being confined to a place away from others and prevented from leaving as a safety measure
• being held, or bound
• having aid usually used to help them move taken away, or
• having force used against them.

There is guidance for schools (which has statutory and non-statutory parts) and law which applies to all schools in England (including independent schools) in relation to restrictive interventions (effective from 1 April 2026).  

On this page we explain what schools are allowed to do, what schools must do, and what you can do if you need to take action.

What schools are allowed to do

Seclusion and restraint

Schools are allowed to use seclusion and restraint on children and young people, and The Schools (Recording and Reporting of Seclusion and Restraint) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2025 sets out the policies schools must have for recording and reporting this (also effective from 1 April 2026).

Seclusion is a legally defined term. It means one or more members of school staff detains a pupil in a place apart from any other person (except from staff) otherwise than as a disciplinary penalty, including by:

• physically obstructing their way of leaving
• securing the place so that the pupil cannot leave it, or
• causing the pupil to believe that they will be punished if they leave the place.

The guidance (in the non-statutory section) says that seclusion should only be used as a safety measure to protect others from harm when a pupil is experiencing high levels of emotional or behavioural dysregulation. It is not a disciplinary response to deliberate or wilful misbehaviour. Disciplinary measures that are similar, such as isolation, are not seclusion (and do not attract recording or reporting duties in this way).

It also says where the pupil is confined should be safe and not feel threatening or intimidating to them. They should be supervised at all times during the period of seclusion and as soon as the immediate risk of harm has reduced, be allowed to leave.

Restraint is also a legally defined term. It means a member of school staff restricts a pupil’s movement otherwise than as a disciplinary penalty, including by:

• holding or binding the pupil’s body (or part of it)
• securing the pupil to a fixed or heavy object, or
• taking from the pupil an auxiliary aid usually used to help them move.

The guidance (again in the non-statutory section) says this can include direct physical contact but may not. For example, it might involve holding a pupil’s arms to their sides or removing a pupil’s crutches.

Use of force

All members of school staff also have a legal power to use reasonable force to prevent or stop a pupil from:

• causing injury to themselves or others
• committing a criminal offence
• damaging property, or
• causing disorder among pupils at the school, whether during a teaching session or otherwise.

It is illegal to use force on a pupil for the purpose of punishment.

The guidance (in the non-statutory section) says ‘reasonable’ means using no more force than is necessary for the least amount of time, which will depend on the circumstances.

What schools should do

The guidance (in the non-statutory section) says deciding whether it is reasonable to use a restrictive intervention will depend on the situation. Staff should consider relevant considerations, including whether it is necessary and proportionate, as well as the pupil’s welfare.

In respect of SEN and disabilities, the guidance (in the non-statutory section) says schools:

• should try to understand the underlying triggers of challenging behaviour so that they can provide proactive support, create an inclusive environment and consider the impact of school policies on pupils with SEN and disabilities
• should use staff who know individual pupils well to help identify and manage risk such as trigger points when challenging behaviour is more likely to occur, and develop proactive strategies to reduce the likelihood of restrictive interventions being used
• should work with pupils, parents and other professionals to develop prevention and de-escalation strategies, and co-produce behaviour support plans if necessary
• should detail circumstances in behaviour support plans where it may be appropriate for staff to have increased physical contact with a pupil, and review these plans with the pupil and their parent periodically and following any significant incident, and
• where they have identified an increased risk in the need for the use of reasonable force and/or other restrictive interventions, must have risk assessments in place and where possible, mitigate risks such as through training and prevention strategies (all pages 11 – 12 of the guidance, non-statutory section).

What schools must do

Governing bodies of maintained schools and the proprietors of other schools must make sure that there is a procedure in place for recording and reporting incidents of seclusion, restraint and significant use of force.

The Schools (Recording and Reporting of Seclusion and Restraint) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2025 and the guidance (in the statutory section) confirms that:

Recording duties	Reporting duties
Seclusion and restraint
Incidents must be recorded in writing as soon as practicable after the event. It should be recorded by the staff member involved, with: names of pupil and staff directly involved time, date, location and approximate duration of the intervention any relevant needs or circumstances of the pupil, including SEN or disability and their SEN status code a brief account of why the intervention was considered necessary details of any physical injuries sustained, if applicable, and any post-incident support.	Governing bodies of maintained schools must ensure there is a policy for supplying a copy of the written record of the seclusion or restraint incident to parents. Independent schools and non-maintained special schools must ensure there is a procedure for providing information about the seclusion or restraint incident in writing to parents. If a restraint incident also constitutes a significant use of force, schools need to follow the reporting procedure for significant use of force incidents instead.
Significant use of force
Significant incidents, where the use of force goes beyond appropriate physical contact between pupils and staff as described in the guidance, must be recorded in writing as soon as practicable after the event. It should be recorded by the staff member involved, with: names of pupil and staff directly involved time, date, location and approximate duration of the intervention any relevant needs or circumstances of the pupil, including SEN or disability and their SEN status code brief account of the incident, including what led up to the incident, identified or potential triggers if known, any preventative or de-escalation strategies used, and (where relevant) what type of reasonable force was applied, the degree of force, and details of any physical injuries sustained brief account of why the use of force was assessed as necessary, and any post-incident support.	Schools must ensure that a procedure is in place for reporting each significant use of force to the parents of the pupil involved as soon as practicable after the incident, and they should attempt to do this on the same day. Parents should be told in writing the following details as a minimum: time, date, location and approximate duration of the intervention brief account of why the intervention was assessed as necessary brief account of what type of force was applied, and the degree of force, and details of any physical injuries sustained, if applicable.

However, there are some exceptions to the need to report seclusion, restraint or significant use of force incidents. These are if the pupil is aged 20 or over, or the school thinks that reporting it would likely result in serious harm to the pupil (instead the school must report the incident to any parent whom it can be reported to without resulting in significant harm or, if there are none, to the LA).

The requirement to record and inform parents applies even if the use of restrictive interventions in certain circumstances is agreed with parents as part of a pupil’s behaviour support plan.

What you can do

If your child’s school is using restrictive interventions on your child, ask to see its recording and reporting policies. Check what information you have been given and what the policy says you should have been provided with.

Also check what happened and whether the incident falls within the definition of seclusion or restraint (as they are set out in law). Schools must act lawfully.

If you are unhappy with the use of restrictive interventions on your child, you can make a complaint to the school.

You might also want to consider if the use of restrictive interventions is discriminatory against your child, and if so you can take action about it by making a claim of disability discrimination in the SEND Tribunal.

You may also feel that your child’s school has not properly identified or understood your child’s SEN, or the support needed to meet them, and this resulted in the use of restrictive interventions. You can request an EHC needs assessment at any time, and we have a template letter to help you.

If your child already has an EHC plan in place and your child is experiencing restrictive interventions, it might be that their special educational needs have not been properly set out in Section B or that the special educational provision they reasonably require has not been specified properly in Section F. You may also feel that a new placement is required for their needs. If the EHC plan has been recently issued, you can appeal (and mediate) its contents including Section I. Otherwise, you can try to have it changed at the next annual review or ask for an early review if that is some time away.