Families threaten Department for Education with legal challenge over guidance on isolation booths

The families of two teenagers who have a range of special educational needs have sent a letter before action to the Department for Education over its failure to review guidance on the use of isolation booths in schools.

The claimants’ lawyers, Simpson Millar, said there were concerns that the guidance, Advice for Head teachers and school staff on behaviour and discipline in schools, was damaging the mental and educational wellbeing of thousands of children.

The letter before action argues that the guidance does not sufficiently recognise the widespread nature of isolation booths as a practice or its consequences, and that the confusing nature of the guidance leads to a risk that many schools are acting illegally.

A girl from Kent with ASD and a teenager from Nottinghamshire with ADHD, both of whom have anxiety and other mental health problems, are involved in the legal challenge.

Simpson Millar said they had both been subjected to sustained and extended isolation which had impacted both their educational and emotional wellbeing.

Earlier this year academy chain Outwood Grange Academies Trust decided to review its behaviour policy after a student mounted legal action against the Trust.

Dan Rosenberg, an Education Law Solicitor at Simpson Millar ,said: “Guidance on behaviour and discipline in schools needs to be much clearer; especially with regards the use of isolation booths which, evidence suggests, are being used as a ‘dumping ground’ for children, particularly those with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

“What was originally a method for dealing with an immediate crisis in a classroom is now being used as a low-cost solution for the long term management of pupils, to the detriment of their mental health and education.

“The current Department for Education guidance is not fit for purpose, and as a result children are suffering.”

Rosenberg added: “It is imperative that the Government urgently review its guidance, and we would urge them to pay particular attention to the impacts of the use of isolation on children with disabilities, and in particular disabilities such as ASD and ADHD, as in our clients’ case, when so doing.

“We hope that they respond positively to our letter and put the welfare and education of all of the children affected by this issue first.”