Anti-bullying cuts linked to 'shocking' rise in school exclusions

A rise in school suspensions over racist, homophobic and disablist abuse is linked to an erosion in anti-bullying support and wider societal issues, education specialists say. Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, there were more than 55,000 suspensions linked to racist abuse at English schools. Department for Education data documenting reasons for suspensions also shows schools logged homophobic or transphobic abuse more than 13,000 times and disablist abuse about 1,600 times in the same period. A mother who believes bullying contributed to the suicide of her autistic son said the data was "horrifying but not surprising". Amid calls for a national anti-bullying strategy, the Department for Education described the figures as "shocking" and said it was providing expert support. Warning: This story contains details some may find distressing Government data documenting reasons for suspensions shows a 68% rise in mentions of prejudicial abuse in fewer than four years. Because schools can record up to three reasons for each suspension, these figures do not represent individual incidents but show how often different forms of abuse are cited. Kirsten Coutts' son Sam Coutts was 18 when he killed hi