Intimate care: responsibility of school staff

Last reviewed on 16 August 2021
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 3925

Schools have to make reasonable adjustments for pupils who are not yet toilet trained, under the Equality Act 2010. Read about who should change nappies in school, how to work with parents and how to make sure your staff are equipped to support these pupils.

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Contents

  1. What intimate care should a school provide?
  2. Who should help pupils with intimate care in school?
  3. How to plan intimate care in your school 
  4. How to plan intimate care for a pupil
  5. When to register a safeguarding concern

What intimate care should a school provide?

‘Intimate care’ means doing tasks involving close personal contact that someone cannot do independently. This includes things like changing nappies and helping a pupil use the toilet.

Providing intimate care counts as a reasonable adjustment for pupils who are not toilet trained, not able to use a toilet independently, or need other help with intimate tasks. This is because failing to do so would infringe upon those pupils’ rights to access education due to a disability, under the Equality Act 2010. 

You can see an example of this on page 20 of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s guidance on reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils.  

Read these FAQs from Norfolk County Council to find out their definition of intimate care as well as other useful information.

Who should help pupils with intimate care in school?

You can ask parents to come in and change pupils’ nappies, but you

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