Physical Intervention in Schools – One Year Review of Guidance

Incidents of restraint

Context

The survey requested statistical returns from local authorities, independent schools and grant-aided schools on the number of incidents of restraint for the period November 2024 to November 2025.

In 2025, there were 2,435 publicly funded schools in Scotland: 1,969 Primary, 359 Secondary and 107 Special Schools. Of the 695,923 pupils attending publicly funded schools in 2025, 372,331 were in primary, 315,503 in Secondary and 8,089 in Special Schools^[2]. In 2025, there were 8 grant-aided schools in Scotland - 7 special schools (1 closed in June 2025) and 1 mainstream school – and there were 92 independent schools – 61 mainstream and 31 special schools – operating during the same period.

As noted above, survey returns were received from 30 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, 7 independent schools and 2 grant-aided schools. Therefore, the following data does not represent the entire schools’ sectors. One local authority did not know the number of incidents and therefore has not been included below.

Physical Restraint

Local authorities (publicly funded schools), independent and grant-aided schools were asked to report the number of incidents of physical restraint between November 2024 and November 2025. There were 3,786 incidents of physical restraint reported across the 3 types of school (Figure 1). Eight local authorities recorded zero incidents for physical restraint in their primary schools, 10 recorded zero incidents in secondary schools and 7 recorded zero incidents in special schools.

Mechanical Restraint

Local authorities, independent and grant-aided schools were asked to report the number of incidents of mechanical restraint between November 2024 and November 2025. There were 362 incidents of mechanical restraint reported across the 3 types of school (Figure 2). 25 local authorities recorded zero incidents for mechanical restraint in their primary schools, 23 recorded zero incidents in secondary schools and 19 recorded zero incidents in special schools. The 2024 guidance notes that many children and young people use equipment provided by health and social care services to support their daily healthcare needs and advises that any equipment with a restrictive element should never be used as a form of punishment, as method of securing compliance or as a response to distressed behaviour.

Seclusion

Local authorities, independent and grant-aided schools were asked to report the number of incidents of seclusion between November 2024 and November 2025. There were 222 incidents of seclusion reported across the 3 types of school (Figure 3). 20 local authorities recorded zero incidents for seclusion in their primary schools, 21 recorded zero incidents in secondary schools and 16 recorded zero incidents in special schools.

Other Restraints (see definition of restraint in the glossary)

Local authorities, independent and grant-aided schools were asked to report the number of incidents of other types of restraint between November 2024 and November 2025. There were 279 incidents of other types of restraint across the 3 types of school (Figure 4). 22 local authorities recorded zero incidents for other restraints in their primary schools, 20 recorded zero incidents in secondary schools and 17 recorded zero incidents in special schools.

Number of pupils and schools

Aggregate figures of the number of primary, secondary and special school pupils and the number of schools this data represents was requested. However, several local authorities indicated they could not currently provide this level of data, so it is therefore not possible to provide an accurate figure as to the number of school or pupils represented by this data.