The government is set to encourage schools to make greater use of internal suspensions, via new behaviour guidance. Under the planned guidance, which will likely be included in the upcoming schools white paper, schools will be encouraged to only send pupils home for the most serious behaviour, such as violence.
The motivation for the change appears to be a concern that the changing landscape of pupils’ access to the online world is making exclusions less effective. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: ‘Time out of school doesn’t just disrupt learning – it can have a huge impact on a young person’s life chances. Suspensions will always play a critical role in helping heads manage poor behaviour, but time at home today can too easily mean children retreating to social media, gaming and the online world instead of serving their punishment. That has devalued suspensions and led to high levels of lost learning.’
A Department for Education (DfE) statement expanded on the theme: ‘Suspensions were introduced 40 years ago – long before the existence of mobile phones and social media. Today, suspension at home can mean unfettered access to friends and online gaming – doing little to address behaviour, enforce punishment or re-engage pupils with learning. The government has been clear that mobile phones have no place in schools. This reform will bring suspensions in line with that principle, ending the contradiction where pupils are restricted from phones in school but effectively handed them all day when suspended. The most serious and violent behaviour will still result in pupils being removed from the school environment and the new framework will not replace at home suspensions.’
There has been a significant rise in the use of suspensions in the years following the coronavirus pandemic. Latest DfE figures showed there were 335,671 suspensions in schools in autumn 2024/25. This was lower than the previous year, but significantly above the 178,400 suspensions in the autumn of 2019/20.
There has been a mixed response from sector leaders to the proposals. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union said it was ‘reassuring’ it would still be at the discretion of headteachers as to what form suspensions would take. He noted that many schools already use internal suspension ‘and this framework could bring more consistency across schools. However, any suggestion that this should become the default position for all suspensions raises a range of important questions, including how schools will be able to supervise those and whether or not all schools have space to make that work.’
This point was echoed by Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, who said he was looking forward to seeing the details of the government’s plans, but that it is ‘imperative that any new expectations are backed up with sufficient resources and that schools are not once again left having to do more with less.’
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU went further, saying ‘The NEU supports and welcomes systems that encourage sharing best practice. However, schools are running on empty. This is the latest in an increasing line of unfunded government initiatives…..The government has told schools to make cuts last year, this year and for the foreseeable future. It has suggested schools cut assistant heads, who typically lead initiatives like this, and support staff, who often deliver these initiatives. Schools cannot continually be asked to do more with less.’
It is not clear if schools will be provided with more resources. A DfE blog post includes the question ‘Will schools get more funding to deliver internal suspensions?’, but the following text does not directly answer this, saying only: ‘Many schools already deliver them successfully using existing staff and resources. Internal suspensions can also reduce the need for costly alternatives, such as sending pupils to other provision outside school. The guidance will not require schools to follow a single staffing model — schools will decide what works best for them. They don’t need to use internal suspension if it isn’t right for their circumstances and pupils.’
The DfE says the new guidance will be developed with schools and trusts and will be consulted on before being finalised. It will sit within existing suspension and permanent exclusion guidance, rather than creating a new system, with the changes expected to come into effect next year.