What does duty of care mean for organisations sending groups abroad?

What does duty of care mean when you send a group abroad?

In everyday use, duty of care means the organisation that sends people abroad is responsible for taking reasonable steps to keep them safe. Legally, the phrase has a specific meaning in the law of negligence, and it overlaps with statutory duties under health and safety law. For a school, university, company or club, the practical question is the same: did you identify the foreseeable risks and do what was reasonable to manage them?

The duty applies to everyone the organisation is responsible for on the trip: employees, students, pupils, players, volunteers and contractors, although the legal basis and standard can differ for each. This guide summarises the main UK legal sources as general information. It is not legal advice, and you should confirm how they apply to your organisation with your own legal and health and safety advisers.

What is the common-law duty of care?

Under the common law of negligence, a person or organisation can be liable to pay compensation if they owed someone a duty of care, breached it by failing to take reasonable care, and that breach caused harm that was reasonably foreseeable. Organisations that plan and run trips will normally owe a duty of care to the people taking part.

• Foreseeability: the question is whether a reasonable organisation would have foreseen the risk, not whether the precise incident was predicted.
• Reasonable care: the standard is what a reasonable organisation in your position would have done. It does not require eliminating every risk.
• Evidence: courts look at what you actually did, so a proportionate risk assessment, briefings and records of decisions are important evidence of reasonable care.
• Abroad: the duty does not stop at the border. A claim may involve questions about which country's courts and laws apply, which is one reason to take legal advice after a serious incident.

DfE's guidance on educational visits puts it plainly for schools: staff could be liable under civil law for injuries to children caused by negligence.

Does the Health and Safety at Work Act apply when a group is abroad?

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places duties on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees (section 2) and that people not in their employment, such as pupils, students or clients, are not exposed to risks from their undertaking (section 3). Northern Ireland has equivalent legislation, the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

The territorial position needs care:

• HSE states that British health and safety legislation only applies within Great Britain, plus certain offshore and territorial-water activities, and that it does not apply to activities outside these areas.
• HSE also says it does not investigate incidents that occur outside Great Britain, and that risks outside Great Britain may be subject to the law of the country where they arise.
• However, the planning, risk assessment and decisions made in Great Britain are part of work carried out here. DfE's guidance states that HSE does not cover incidents overseas but can investigate work carried out in Britain to support the trip, such as a risk assessment.

What does "reasonably practicable" mean?

"So far as is reasonably practicable" is the standard used throughout UK health and safety law. HSE describes it as weighing a risk against the trouble, time and money needed to control it. The idea comes from the Court of Appeal's decision in Edwards v National Coal Board (1949).

• You are expected to take a control measure unless the sacrifice involved is grossly disproportionate to the reduction in risk it achieves. HSE guidance uses this "gross disproportion" test.
• The greater the risk, the more you are expected to spend in time, effort and money to reduce it.
• Your organisation's ability to afford a measure is not, by itself, a reason to leave it out.
• Established good practice, such as OEAP National Guidance for schools or sector fieldwork guidance for universities, is usually treated as a benchmark of what is reasonably practicable.

For trips, this means you do not need to remove every risk, and HSE's own school trips position warns against focusing on paperwork. It does mean that obvious, affordable controls, such as briefings, headcounts, emergency contacts and suitable staffing, should be in place.

Could the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act apply?

Under section 1 of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, an organisation is guilty of an offence if the way its activities are managed or organised causes a person's death and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed to that person. A breach is "gross" if the conduct falls far below what can reasonably be expected of the organisation, and the way senior management managed or organised the activities must be a substantial element in the breach. The offence is called corporate manslaughter in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and corporate homicide in Scotland.

Its territorial reach is limited. Section 28 says the offence applies if the harm resulting in death is sustained in the United Kingdom, in UK territorial waters, on a British-registered ship, on a British-controlled aircraft or hovercraft, or in certain offshore installations. On a plain reading, a death caused by harm sustained on the ground abroad would generally fall outside the Act, but a death on a British-controlled aircraft could fall within it. Organisations should take legal advice rather than rely on this summary.

The wider point holds regardless of territory: the Act focuses attention on how senior management organises safety, which is exactly what a travel risk management policy is for.

What does in loco parentis mean for schools?

In loco parentis means "in the place of a parent". Teachers and other school staff supervising pupils under 18 on a trip are generally expected to show the standard of care that a reasonably careful parent would show in the same circumstances, taking into account that staff are trained professionals supervising a group. It is a long-standing common-law principle rather than a single statutory rule.

• The duty runs throughout the trip, including evenings, free time and travel days, not only during planned activities.
• It sits alongside the school's statutory safeguarding responsibilities and the employer's educational visits policy.
• It does not mean staff must prevent every accident. It means taking the reasonable precautions a careful parent would, informed by the risk assessment.

For the planning detail, see our guide on writing a risk assessment for a school trip abroad.

What is ISO 31030 and do you have to follow it?

ISO 31030:2021 is an international standard giving guidance to organisations on managing the risks of travel to the organisation and its travellers. It was published in September 2021, applies to commercial, charitable, governmental, non-governmental and educational organisations of any size, and builds on the ISO 31000 risk management framework. Tourism and leisure travel are outside its scope.

It is guidance, not law. No UK statute requires you to adopt it, but it is a recognised reference for what a structured travel risk management programme looks like: a policy, assessment of destinations and arrangements, treatment of risks, communication, emergency response and review. Two related standards are relevant to some groups:

• ISO 31031:2024 gives guidance on managing risk for youth and school trips, both domestic and international.
• BS 8848 is the British Standard for visits, fieldwork, expeditions and adventurous activities outside the UK. DfE recommends schools use it as the basis for planning trips with significant risks.

What does duty of care look like in practice?

Whatever the legal source, the same practical components show that an organisation took reasonable care. The table sets out each one and the evidence that it is working.

Check FCDO travel advice when planning and before departure, and sign up for its email alerts. FCDO states that travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against its advice.

What should happen during and after an incident?

1. Make people safe and get medical or emergency help, using the local emergency number and the insurer's assistance line.
2. Escalate to the named home contact, who activates the organisation's incident procedure and involves senior management where needed.
3. Communicate with families, employers or next of kin through one agreed route, and keep a log of decisions and times.
4. Contact consular help where British nationals need it. FCDO can provide consular support, but it cannot pay bills or give legal advice.
5. Review afterwards. Record what happened, what worked and what did not, and update policies, risk assessments and training. Report through any internal or regulatory channels that apply.

Our group travel emergency plan guide covers this in more detail.

How Roamly can help

Roamly provides travel consulting and group logistics for organisations sending groups abroad, including the itineraries, manifests and supplier contacts that tracking and incident response depend on. Our free travel risk assessment tool and emergency contacts tool give you a starting point. Legal duties remain with your organisation, so take advice from your own legal and health and safety advisers. Contact us to talk through a trip.