Increase in violence against school staff revealed after 1371 incidents recorded by Falkirk Council staff

More than 1800 assaults were recorded by Falkirk Council staff last year, a new report has revealed.

The 520% increase in violent incidents, which can be physical or verbal, was revealed in a report to Falkirk Council’s executive that is looking what the council is doing to tackle the problem.

It also reveals that teachers and school staff have seen by far the biggest rise, with 1317 in-school incidents reported in the last school year.

The analysis of violence facing council staff and an action plan to reduce the number of incidents was requested by councillors in February in response to a motion by Conservative councillor James Bundy.

At the time, councillor Bundy had said he was shocked at the rising tide of violence, particularly facing teachers and other school staff.

The resulting report shows the scale of the problem, with occupational violence rising alarmingly in recent years, from 293 incidents reported in 2020/21 to 1817 incidents in 2023/24.

The problem is not unique to Falkirk and both the EIS (Education Institute of Scotland) and UNISON have published reports that indicate a general rise in reporting of occupational violence across Scotland.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines occupational violence as: ‘Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in
circumstances relating to their work’.

The analysis notes that many of the reports of physical violence do not result in harm or injury, but they can nevertheless be distressing to staff.

The report explains that in 2020, Falkirk Council introduced a new online reporting system, which is much easier for staff to use.

While this is very likely to have led to the dramatic increase in reports, the report acknowledges that numbers before the new system was introduced are likely to have been under-reported.

The council says that staff are now actively encouraged to do report incidents and the new system is making it easier to track complaints and outcomes.

The report will be discussed by members of Falkirk Council’s executive, which now includes the education executive, on Thursday, September 12 at 10am in Grangemouth Community Education Unit, Abbot’s Road.

The meeting will also be livestreamed on YouTube.