Management Information Sheet
The Equality Act and the Provision of Auxiliary Aids and Services to Disabled Pupils
INFORMATION AND CONSULTATION
The latest information about schools' responsibilities under Equalities legislation and their public sector duties is that April 6th 2012 will be the date by which schools should publish their equality information and objectives.
By 6th April 2012 and at least annually thereafter a school must publish
sufficient information to demonstrate its compliance with the general equality duty across its functions.
And by that date, and at least every four years thereafter, a school must prepare and publish
objectives that it reasonable thinks it should achieve to meet one or more aims of the general equality duty, and
details of the engagement that it undertook, in developing the objectives, with people it considers to have an interest in furthering the aims of the general equality duty.
Further information is on the DfE website at:
And in an EPSS information paper at 'The Equality Act and your school'
AUXILIARY AIDS FOR DISABLED PUPILS - CONSULTATION
In response to the Lamb enquiry, the Equality Act intends to place a new responsibility on schools to provide auxiliary aids and services to disabled pupils as part of the reasonable adjustments duty. The new duty was proposed to start in September 2011 but the proposal is now out to consultation.
Schools and local authorities were previously exempted from the requirement to provide auxiliary aids as part of the reasonable adjustments duty on the basis that auxiliary aids were already provided through special educational needs (SEN) statements and through schools' and local authorities' separate duties under disability legislation to plan to increase access to schools and the curriculum.
The consultation seeks responses on
the date when the new obligation should come into effect, including consideration of whether it should not be commenced at all, and
whether it would be necessary or desirable to define the extent of the obligation on schools and local authorities to provide auxiliary aids as part of their duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils. Regulations could make provision as to the circumstances in which it is, or is not, reasonable for a school/local authority to have to take certain steps as part of the reasonable adjustments duty, or could set out things which are, or which are not, to be treated as auxiliary aids.
The consultation is available by clicking here
All schools are urged to respond to the consultation. With increasing numbers of disabled children and young people in our schools, and the anticipatory element of the duty to make reasonable adjustments, it is an issue that will affect every setting.
The latest information about schools' responsibilities under Equalities legislation and their public sector duties is that April 6th 2012 will be the date by which schools should publish their equality information and objectives.
By 6th April 2012 and at least annually thereafter a school must publish
And by that date, and at least every four years thereafter, a school must prepare and publish
Further information is on the DfE website at:
And in an EPSS information paper at 'The Equality Act and your school'
AUXILIARY AIDS FOR DISABLED PUPILS - CONSULTATION
In response to the Lamb enquiry, the Equality Act intends to place a new responsibility on schools to provide auxiliary aids and services to disabled pupils as part of the reasonable adjustments duty. The new duty was proposed to start in September 2011 but the proposal is now out to consultation.
Schools and local authorities were previously exempted from the requirement to provide auxiliary aids as part of the reasonable adjustments duty on the basis that auxiliary aids were already provided through special educational needs (SEN) statements and through schools' and local authorities' separate duties under disability legislation to plan to increase access to schools and the curriculum.
The consultation seeks responses on
The consultation is available by clicking here
All schools are urged to respond to the consultation. With increasing numbers of disabled children and young people in our schools, and the anticipatory element of the duty to make reasonable adjustments, it is an issue that will affect every setting.