The Competent Person Requirement: What Schools Must Provide Under Health and Safety Law

Every school in the UK has a legal obligation to ensure that those managing health and safety are “competent” to do so. This isn’t optional. It’s a statutory requirement under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

But what does “competent” actually mean? And what does this legal duty require of school leaders?

What the Law Requires

The Health and Safety at Work Act (Section 2(3)) requires employers to ensure they have “suitable and sufficient” competent persons to assist in undertaking the measure needed to comply with their legal duties.

In practice, this means:

Knowledge — Someone who understands health and safety law and its application to schools
Experience — Someone who has demonstrated, through practical experience, an understanding of school-specific hazards
Authority — Someone with the seniority and access to resources needed to act on their advice
Accessibility — Access to competent support when needed, not just once a year

Many schools meet this requirement by employing an experienced health and safety manager. Others use an external consultant providing retained support. What matters is that they can demonstrate the competence exists and is accessible.

Why Schools Struggle

Many school leaders aren’t aware of this requirement in its full form. They assume that having policies or attending training is sufficient. It’s not.

The requirement is specifically about having access to competent advice. A policy written by someone without expertise is less defensible than a policy co-created with a competent person. Training delivered by someone without credibility is less effective.

Competence is about credibility and knowledge, not just good intentions.

What Competence Looks Like

A truly competent person for schools has:

Health and safety qualifications — Often IOSH or equivalent certification
Education sector experience — Understanding of schools as unique environments with specific hazards
Broader perspective — Experience in multiple school settings or environments similar to schools
Technical knowledge — Understanding of fire safety, asbestos management, chemical handling, contractor control, etc.
Enforcement awareness — Understanding how enforcement bodies assess schools following incidents

This is why external competent person support is often more effective than internal provision. It brings broader perspective and credibility.

The Governance Implication

From a governance perspective, the competent person requirement means:

Trustees and governors should know who provides competent advice — Can they name them?
They should understand their qualifications and experience — Why are they competent?
They should evidence regular access — Is advice sought and documented?
They should evaluate the advice — Are recommendations considered and acted upon?

Without this, trustees and governors are failing in their duty to oversee health and safety management.

What Schools Often Miss

Many schools have a “health and safety competent person” — usually someone with safety qualifications. But they miss the requirement for competence in specific areas:

Fire safety — Fire risk assessment and fire safety strategy require specific competence
CDM regulations — Construction projects require someone competent in CDM
Asbestos management — Asbestos awareness isn’t the same as asbestos management competence
Contractor control — Vetting and managing contractors requires specific knowledge

A single person is unlikely to be competent across all these areas. Schools often need access to specialist competence in addition to general health and safety competence.

The Defensibility Angle

From an enforcement perspective, when an incident occurs, one of the first questions is: “Did this school have access to competent advice?”

If not, enforcement action becomes more serious. The school not only failed to manage the specific hazard that caused the incident — it failed in its fundamental duty to have competent support in place.

Schools that can evidence they sought competent advice, considered it, and acted upon it have much stronger defensibility.

Building Competent Capacity

For many schools, building competent capacity means:

Identifying gaps — Where are you currently lacking competent advice?
Accessing support — Whether internal or external, ensuring competence is available
Creating systems — Building processes that regularly access and evidence competent decision-making
Building understanding — Ensuring governors and leaders understand why this matters

The Reality

The competent person requirement isn’t bureaucracy. It’s recognition that health and safety decisions should be made by people who understand the consequences.

Schools that have genuine, accessible competent support are safer. They’re also more defensible when enforcement scrutiny arises.

The School Safety People provide named competent person support for schools, combining statutory compliance with genuine risk reduction and leadership protection.