Commentary on Sections Recording and reporting use of force
808.Staff at schools and FE institutions who supervise learners have powers to use force to prevent the commission of any criminal offence, injury, damage to property or serious breaches of discipline. The legislation that provides this power for schools has existed in its current form since 1998 and was re-enacted by section 93 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. The analogous legislation for colleges is section 85C of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (inserted by the Education and Inspections Act 2006).
809.The Department for Children, Schools and Families issued revised guidance, entitled The Use of Force to Control or Restrain Pupils in November 2007.
810.This guidance is supplemented by two specialist guidance documents which provide additional information for staff working with pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, namely:
	Guidance on the Use of Restrictive Physical Interventions for Staff Working with Children and Adults who display Extreme Behaviour in Association with Learning Disability and/or Autistic Spectrum Disorders (Circ LEA/0242/2002); and
	Guidance on the Use of Restrictive Physical Interventions for Pupils with Severe Behavioural Difficulties (Circ LEA/0264/2003).
811.The Association of Colleges in partnership with the then Department for Education and Skills issued revised guidance, entitled The Use of Force to Control or Restrain in Further Education in April 2007. This document refers to the specialist guidance documents prepared for schools which may help FE Institutions in working with similar client groups. With the re-designation of sixth form colleges, this guidance will cover both general FE and sixth form colleges.