Legal Update: Legal Q&A - Schools and long-term medical conditions

Q. Do schools have a legal duty to support children with long-term medical conditions?

A. At present, the law fails to impose a clear duty on schools to provide support to children with long-term medical needs. Instead, the duties of schools to provide support to such children are derived from various common law principles (principles developed by the courts), legislation, and government policy and guidance. Key among these is the common law duty of teaching staff to take reasonable care for the safety and welfare of their students. Also key is the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits schools from discriminating against a pupil on protected grounds, which include disabilities. A student who has a physical impairment, such as diabetes, asthma or epilepsy, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, is considered to be disabled for these purposes.