ALN Exclusion Wales: Your Rights When a Child with Additional Learning Needs Is Excluded

Children with Additional Learning Needs in Wales are disproportionately represented in school exclusion statistics. Research across Wales shows that neurodivergent pupils — those with autism, ADHD, and complex learning needs — are significantly more likely to face disciplinary action, reduced timetables, and informal exclusions than their neurotypical peers. And many of these exclusions are unlawful.

Here's what the law says about ALN and exclusion in Wales, and what you can do if your child is being pushed out of school.

The Scale of the Problem

The Children's Commissioner for Wales has explicitly documented the disproportionate use of reduced timetables and informal exclusions for children with ALN. Families in Wales report schools telling them that their child's behaviour is too challenging without providing the support the child's IDP requires.

This is circular: the school excludes the child because of behaviour that stems from unmet ALN, while also failing to deliver the IDP provision that would address those behaviours. The Children's Commissioner has classified this pattern as a systemic failure, not an individual school decision.

Types of Exclusion

Formal fixed-term exclusion: The headteacher must follow a formal process, notify parents in writing, and the pupil must be informed of their right to make representations to the governing body. Formal exclusions are recorded.

Formal permanent exclusion: The most serious sanction. Must follow strict statutory procedures with governing body review and the right to appeal.

Reduced timetable (informal/illegal exclusion): A school operates a shortened school day for a child — sending them home at noon, excluding them on certain days, or "inviting" parents to collect early — without following the formal exclusion process. This is not a recognised legal status under Welsh education law. A child with ALN is entitled to full-time education.

Managed move: A school proposes transferring a child to another school without going through the formal exclusion process. Parents do not have to agree to a managed move.

Unofficial exclusion (being sent home): Schools sometimes phone parents and ask them to collect a child informally, without issuing formal exclusion paperwork. This is unlawful. Every time a child is sent home for disciplinary reasons, it must be recorded as a formal exclusion.

The Equality Act 2010 Applies in Wales

The Equality Act 2010 applies across Wales and England. Under this Act, disability is a protected characteristic, and schools have a duty not to discriminate against disabled pupils — including through the way they apply disciplinary sanctions.

An exclusion is potentially discriminatory if:

• It arises from behaviour that is a direct manifestation of the child's disability or ALN
• The school did not first consider whether reasonable adjustments (including delivering IDP provision) would have prevented the behaviour

A manifestation determination — the formal process of asking whether the behaviour leading to exclusion is connected to the child's disability — is not a statutory requirement in Wales as it is in some other jurisdictions. However, parents can and should raise disability discrimination as a ground for challenging an exclusion through the governing body or the tribunal.

When an IDP Is in Place

If your child has an IDP, the provision in it is legally binding. If a school is excluding your child because of behaviour that the IDP's ALP provision should be addressing — but the school has not actually delivered that provision — then:

1. The exclusion arises from a failure to implement the IDP
2. That failure is itself a statutory breach
3. Both the exclusion and the non-delivery of provision need to be challenged simultaneously

Document both. Your exclusion challenge and your IDP non-delivery complaint are connected, and evidence of the latter strengthens the former.

Challenging a Fixed-Term Exclusion

Parents have the right to make representations to the school's governing body about a fixed-term exclusion of more than 5 school days (or which would result in the pupil missing a public examination). If the governing body does not reinstate the pupil, parents can further challenge through the Local Authority's Independent Review Panel.

For the governing body hearing, prepare:

• A written statement explaining the link between the exclusion and your child's ALN
• Evidence that the ALP specified in the IDP was not being delivered at the time of the incident
• Any independent professional reports (EP, CAMHS, medical) describing the behavioural manifestations of your child's condition
• A log of previous exclusions or reduced timetable arrangements

Challenging a Reduced Timetable

Schools in Wales cannot operate informal reduced timetables indefinitely. If your child is attending school part-time without your formal written consent, or if you gave consent under pressure, you can challenge this.

Write formally to the headteacher:

• State that you withdraw any consent to a reduced timetable (if you gave it)
• Confirm that your child is entitled to full-time education
• Note that each day the child is sent home without a formal exclusion notice is an unlawful exclusion
• Request a return to full-time attendance from a specific date

Copy this letter to the LA's ALN team and the local authority's head of education. The combination of the formal letter and the LA copy tends to produce a faster response than correspondence with the school alone.

Getting Support

SNAP Cymru (0808 801 0608) can advise specifically on exclusion situations involving children with ALN and can attend meetings with you.

The Children's Commissioner for Wales also takes cases involving children with ALN who are being excluded or placed on reduced timetables — particularly where these practices are systemic.

The Wales ALN Dispute Playbook covers the full exclusion challenge process, including template letters for challenging reduced timetables and unlawful exclusions, and guidance on how to link an exclusion challenge to an IDP enforcement complaint. Get the toolkit at /uk/wales/advocacy/.

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