Industrial action: risk assessment and arrangements for staying open

Understand your requirements and options for keeping your school safely open during staff strikes. Download and adapt our risk assessment to help you decide if you need to close.

Last reviewed on 16 April 2025See updates
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 45757
Contents
  1. Understand the rules around strikes
  2. Follow the EYFS and infant class size rules
  3. Give parents/carers and pupils advance warning
  4. Consider all your options
  5. Use our risk assessment to see if you can open at different capacities

Understand the rules around strikes

What's expected of the headteacher?

You're expected to take “all reasonable steps” to keep your school open for as many pupils as possible during strikes.

This is set out on page 5 of the DfE's non-statutory guidance on handling strike action in schools

You also have a responsibility to look after pupils on the school site. If you don’t have the staff to safely open your school, including making sure you can carry out safeguarding, you may have to close or partially close.

Who can decide to close the school?

Maintained schools: the headteacher.

Academies: the academy trust, but it's usually delegated to the headteacher(s).

There are no set rules about when a school has to be closed, unless you're an early years setting (explained below).

You're in the best position to look at your staffing resource and decide what to do.

Decision and tell people