Our Work

Some highlights of our work are below: 

In 2016, we investigated whether or not schools are complying with the duty. We found that 78% of schools failed to demonstrate that they had a medical conditions policy and the 46% of schools that did have a medical conditions policy were not compliant with the legislation. This is despite the need of a medical conditions policy for schools being mandated by law.

When the Alliance asked again in early 2017, only 11.5% of schools in England could provide an adequate medical conditions policy that meets statutory guidance. Furthermore, 72% of schools also reported that Ofsted did not ask about their medical conditions policy during their latest inspection. This has led to many children with medical conditions being excluded from school activities and having their health and safety put at risk. 

The Alliance also heard of schools achieving a good or outstanding Ofsted inspection results, while failing to meet their statutory duty to provide the necessary support for children with medical conditions. 

Seeing it as vital that school procedures are checked to make sure children with medical conditions are getting the right support to ensure they stay safe, healthy and fully included in school and engaged with Ofsted to raise awareness of the importance of the duty.  

In 2017 Sean Harford, National Director for Education at Ofsted, wrote to all school inspectors to highlight the duty and its importance when assessing how schools look after the welfare of their pupils. You can view the full message that was sent in their newsletter here: School inspection newsletter. 

 In November 2021, the Alliance repeated our investigation into school’s compliance with their legal duty and found that only 27% had an adequate, publicly available medical conditions policy.  

In late 2021, we wrote to then Children and Families Minister Will Quince MP to introduce him to his post and share the findings of our 2021 investigation into schools with adequate medical conditions policies, re-iterating our key asks. We received a response in January 2022 that advised that the upcoming SEND Review would be an opportunity for us to engage on the topic, and that the department was scoping an update to the statutory guidance.

In Spring 2022, when the SEND Review consultation began we engaged with DfE officials to arrange a feedback session where Alliance members could share their thoughts and ideas on how to improve the support for pupils with medical conditions directly with the department.  

We also submitted a written response to the Green Paper: highlighting how effective medical conditions policies and individual healthcare plans can ensure a strong standard of support for a significant number of children with health conditions, and reduce pressure on the system to avoid issues escalating and requiring more intensive support.