Equality and Human Rights Commission

Education providers in England and Wales have a responsibility to tackle bullying in all forms under the Education Act 2002. Individual schools are required to put in place an anti-bullying policy which sets out how they will:

• record bullying incidents
• investigate and deal with such incidents
• support victims, and
• discipline bullies.

In some cases, bullying may include harassment, discrimination or victimisation on the grounds of age, religion or belief, gender, race, sexual orientation or disability. All of these are unlawful. They may also be criminal offences.

In Scotland, it is recommended that all schools have an anti-bullying policy, but there is no legal obligation for schools to have one. Find out more about dealing with bullying in schools in Scotland from the respect me website.

The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 outlaw discrimination against any pupil on grounds of their sexual orientation. This means that schools must deal with bullying on grounds of actual (or perceived) sexual orientation as seriously as bullying on grounds of race, gender, disability, religion or belief, and age.

Find out more about the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 by downloading guidance from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Employees in schools are protected against harassment in the workplace on the grounds of sexual orientation, age, religion or belief, gender, race, or disability by the various equality regulations related to employment. Find out more about your rights in working and earning.

How should I deal with bullying as a parent?

There is a lot of help and information available for parents on how to deal with bullying. The following steps are a very basic outline of what parents might want to do.

• First of all, talk to your child to hear what they have to say.
• Then arrange to speak to the child’s teacher. You should find out how they usually deal with suspected bullying and how they are going to take the matter forward.
• You can also find out whether the school has a written anti-bullying policy. If so, ask to see it.
• If you are not satisfied with the teacher's response, you could ask to see the head teacher.
• If you are still not happy, you could contact the governing body of the school and/or the local authority (education authority in Scotland).
• If the bullying is severe, it is possible that it could be considered a criminal activity. If this is the case, and you feel the school is not dealing with it, you may want to contact the police. 
• If the bullying is racist, religiously motivated or homophobic in nature, for example, it may be defined as a hate crime, in which case different rules may apply.

The Citizens' Advice Bureaux advice guide website can give you more information about organisations that can help.

Bullying that may be considered a hate crime

The Home Office defines hate crime as ‘any incident, which constitutes a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate’. This goes beyond simply causing offence or hostility, and could relate to someone’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Find out more about hate crime from the Home Office website.

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 created a range of new racially and religiously aggravated offences, such as the following:

• Racially aggravated assaults, including common assault, actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm and wounding.
• Racially aggravated criminal damage, including racist graffiti, damage to property and arson (lighting fires).
• Racially aggravated public order/harassment, including engaging in behaviour which causes (or is likely to cause) harassment, distress or fear of violence.

The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 made it a criminal offence to use threatening words or behaviour with the intention of stirring up hatred against any group of people defined by their religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs.

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduced tougher sentences for offences motivated by hatred of the victim’s sexual orientation (this must now be taken into account by the sentencing court as an aggravating factor, in addition to race or religious hate motivation). Find out more by looking at guidance from the Sentencing Guidelines Council on hate as an aggravating factor.

The police (not education providers) are responsible for investigating and dealing with any incidents where hate crimes may have been committed. All incidents of this kind should be reported to the police as soon as possible.

If you do not want to do this yourself, you can ask your education provider to do it.

You can find advice on how to deal with homophobic bullying in schools on the Wired for Health website.