A suspension decision can be made in minutes. The record behind it may be examined for months.
That matters particularly when a pupil has special educational needs or a disability. The Department for Education's statutory guidance on school suspensions and permanent exclusions was updated and became effective on 26 July 2026. The headline change is technical, reflecting new legislation on off-site direction. But the guidance also brings together duties that schools cannot afford to treat as background detail when special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is involved.
Before excluding, leaders need to know what support was in place, whether it matched the pupil's needs, which reasonable adjustments were tried, what the pupil and parents said, and what happened after earlier incidents. A folder full of documents is not the same as an answer.
What changed on 26 July 2026?
The guidance applies in England to maintained schools, academies, free schools and pupil referral units. The July update reflects new legislation on off-site direction. It does not create a new SEND test for exclusion.
Schools must still comply with the Equality Act 2010 and the Children and Families Act 2014, while governing boards must have regard to the SEND Code of Practice. Exclusion should be used only when necessary and as a last resort.
SEND does not prevent a lawful exclusion. Equally, a school cannot exclude because it feels unable to meet a pupil's needs. If missing reasonable adjustments increased the likelihood of the behaviour, the decision may be discriminatory.
What should a school check before excluding a pupil with SEND?
The following checks are not a substitute for the headteacher's judgement or legal advice. They are the evidence base that makes sound judgement possible.
1. Is the pupil's current need accurately recorded?
Start with the current picture, not the easiest document to find. Check:
- the identified areas of need
- any recent change in presentation, health or family circumstances
- the pupil's communication needs
- known triggers and barriers
- current support and reasonable adjustments
- whether an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan or SEN Support plan is due for review
Staff must be able to show which plan was current on the day of the incident. An older plan may contain a superseded strategy while still looking authoritative on a shared drive.
2. Were reasonable adjustments in place and used?
The Equality Act duty applies to school practices and to the exclusion process itself. The guidance gives a clear warning: if reasonable adjustments were not made for a disabled pupil whose unmet needs can lead to breaches of school rules, an exclusion decision may be discriminatory.
Record the adjustment in operational terms. "Support with regulation" is too vague. State what staff should do, when, and how the pupil can ask for help. Then check implementation. Was the agreed break offered? Was the instruction accessible? Did the pupil have the named safe space? An adjustment unknown to the adults present is not much of an adjustment.
3. What support had already been tried?
When a pupil with SEN, a disability or an EHC plan is at risk of exclusion, the guidance tells schools to consider additional support or another placement. Contact the local authority early for pupils with an EHC plan and consider an early annual review. At SEN Support, review current arrangements and involve specialists where appropriate.
Build a short chronology that shows:
- the concern identified
- the support or adjustment agreed
- when it started and who was responsible
- what happened in practice
- what the review found
- what changed next
This shows whether the school adapted its response or simply repeated it.
4. Has the pupil been helped to give their view?
The headteacher should take the pupil's views into account before deciding to exclude, unless it would be inappropriate to do so. The pupil may need support to express those views.
Support might include a familiar adult, visual choices, communication aids, processing time or an advocate. Record the method and how the pupil's account affected the decision. A blank box may show that the method failed, not that the pupil had nothing to say.
5. Were parents involved before the situation reached crisis point?
The guidance expects schools to engage proactively with parents when supporting the behaviour of pupils with additional needs.
A call after the decision is not proactive engagement. The useful evidence sits earlier: concerns shared, parent insight recorded, strategies agreed and changes reviewed. Parents do not control the decision, but their relevant knowledge must not be ignored.
What must be recorded when a suspension happens?
Every exclusion, even for part of a day, must be formally recorded. Sending a pupil home for disciplinary reasons and asking them to work online is still a suspension. Calling it a "cooling-off period" does not change that.
The core record should include:
- the decision, date, duration and stated reason
- the evidence considered by the headteacher
- the pupil's account and how it was obtained
- relevant SEND needs and current provision
- reasonable adjustments considered and applied
- contact with parents, the local authority, social worker or Virtual School Head where relevant
- education arranged during the suspension
- the reintegration plan and review date
The school's legal duties continue during suspension. Work should be set and marked for the first five school days when the pupil is not attending alternative provision. Disabled pupils may still need reasonable adjustments to access that work.
MeritDocs helps schools keep SEND documents in one searchable hub, so leaders can find the current support record and review history instead of rebuilding the picture from several drives during a live incident. The decision remains the headteacher's. The gain is a dependable evidence base.
What should happen after a suspension?
A reintegration meeting should do more than restate the behaviour policy. It should identify what needs to change before the same conditions reappear.
Use four questions:
- What did the pupil experience before the incident?
- Which support worked, failed or was unavailable?
- What will adults do differently on return?
- When will the revised support be reviewed?
Update the support plan if the answers change provision. Do not hide the new arrangement in meeting minutes while the old plan remains in circulation.
Where several suspensions show a pattern, escalate the review. For a pupil with an EHC plan, involve the local authority and consider an early annual review. For a pupil at SEN Support, review whether needs have been fully identified and whether specialist advice is required.
What evidence is needed for a managed move?
A managed move must be voluntary and in the pupil's best interests. It is not an informal alternative to exclusion.
The updated guidance says the original school should be able to evidence appropriate initial intervention before a managed move, including multi-agency support or statutory assessment where relevant. It also stresses advance information sharing between the original school, receiving school and local authority.
A practical handover should include:
- current attainment and attendance context
- the current support plan and review position
- effective adjustments and communication approaches
- a current risk assessment and risk management advice
- recent professional recommendations
- the pupil's and parents' views
- the trial arrangements, success measures and review dates
MeritDocs can support this handover by keeping the current document, its review date and export route together. That reduces the chance of a receiving school being sent a polished plan that no longer matches the pupil.
How long should exclusion evidence be kept?
The guidance says schools should retain records and evidence relating to an exclusion for at least six months because a discrimination claim can be made within that period.
"At least" matters. Do not turn six months into an automatic deletion date. The educational record, safeguarding context, complaints process, trust retention schedule and any ongoing proceedings may require longer retention. Schools should follow their data protection and records management policies, keeping information for a defined purpose and protecting access to it.
Keep the decision record with the evidence that explains it. A detached letter saying "persistent disruptive behaviour" is much harder to understand than a complete record of the incident, provision, adjustments, views and review history.
A five-minute SEND exclusion evidence check
Before the decision is finalised, ask:
- Are we looking at the current support record?
- Could unmet need or disability have contributed to the incident?
- Were agreed reasonable adjustments available and used?
- Have we reviewed whether provision is still suitable?
- Has the pupil been supported to give their view?
- What did parents and relevant professionals tell us?
- Does the record explain why this response is necessary and proportionate?
- Is the return or next placement planned, not assumed?
If several answers depend on someone's memory, the process is not ready.
Frequently asked questions
Can a pupil with SEND be suspended or permanently excluded?
Yes. The school must still comply with equality and SEND duties, consider needs and reasonable adjustments, and follow the statutory process.
Can a school send a pupil home informally to calm down?
Not for disciplinary reasons. If a pupil is sent home because of behaviour, the school must use the formal suspension process and record it.
Do schools need to rewrite everything immediately?
No. Separate what is a current requirement from consultation or future direction, then test the existing record against the practical questions this page sets out. Update the live workflow first, not every historic document at once.
The record has to work under scrutiny
Exclusion decisions are high stakes for pupils, families and schools. Good documentation does not make the decision easy, and software cannot make the judgement. It does make the process more honest.
MeritDocs is built for the point where evidence has to become a current, reviewable SEND document. When support, changes and review dates are visible in one place, leaders can judge the incident against what the school actually knew and did. That is a stronger basis for action than memory, scattered files or a plan found too late.
Sources
statutory guidance on school suspensions and permanent exclusions