Gate Safe, the Kent-based charity campaigning for gate safety, began 2026 with a roundtable at Westminster, hosted by a Kent member of Parliament – Sojan Joseph, Labour MP for Ashford, Hawkinge and the Villages.
The meeting at Portcullis House, London brought together key stakeholders to seek solutions to put a stop to serious gate accidents in schools. Gate Safe points to a survey which indicates possibly as many as over 24,000 schools with unsafe gates in England. When compared to the 232 schools affected by RAAC (crumbling concrete) this highlights the severity of the issue, the charity adds, since many of these gates are automated – and as such classed as machines – capable of inflicting serious injury or worse if they are not installed or maintained correctly.
The meeting was chaired by Gate Safe founder Richard Jackson OBE. Delegates represented:
HSE (Health and Safety Executive);
Secured by Design (the UK official police security scheme);
Zurich Insurance (insurer of thousands of schools);
SAFed (Safety Assessment Federation); and
ECA (Electrical Contractors’ Association).
Senior personnel from companies responsible for manufacturing and installing automated and manual gates were also present. The discussion included:
- A move towards ensuring all new installations comply with the law which states that all gates / machines should be safe – and to bring historic installations up to the required safety standards;
- The supply of all manual and automated swing gates with three hinges as is required by the British Standards to avoid the growing number of falling gate accidents. A third hinge or tether should be retrofitted to any existing installations which are not compliant;
- Recognition of the legal requirement to have all automated gates maintained a minimum of every six months by a suitably trained and competent professional;
- Improved policing of school gates which could extend to the need for building regulations to be applied to automated gates and Ofsted inspections to incorporate more detailed requirements for automated (and manual) gates; and
- Better understanding amongst schools, insurance and inspection industry of the requirements for a safe and legally compliant gate
Sojan Joseph will be making a formal approach to the Department for Education to enlist further support from the government on gate safety.
Richard Jackson OBE said afterwards: “Today’s meeting has been a resounding success, providing the opportunity for Gate Safe to bring the issue of gate safety in schools to the top of the agenda. We are confident that with the support of the delegates who attended the roundtable, we can move forward to ensure a better standard of safety for gates and barriers installed in the school environment – an environment which parents send their children to in the belief that they will be safeguarded and not exposed to unnecessary risks.”
About Gate Safe
Set up in 2010, it promotes automated gate safety; and runs a national register of Gate Safe trained installers; and operates the Gate Safe MOT scheme. Visit http://gatesafe.org/.
