diff --git a/core/control/Controller.php b/core/control/Controller.php
index 293c14fc6..3f6f8c787 100644
--- a/core/control/Controller.php
+++ b/core/control/Controller.php
@@ -44,6 +44,14 @@ class Controller extends ViewableData {
 	function getURLParams() {
 		return $this->urlParams;
 	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * Returns the HTTPResponse object that this controller is building up.
+	 * Can be used to set the status code and headers
+	 */
+	function getResponse() {
+		return $this->response;
+	}
 
 	/**
 	 * Execute the appropriate action handler.  If none is given, use defaultAction to display
diff --git a/core/control/Director.php b/core/control/Director.php
index 1ab301794..512a1bd28 100644
--- a/core/control/Director.php
+++ b/core/control/Director.php
@@ -242,6 +242,20 @@ class Director {
 	static function redirected_to() {
 		return Controller::curr()->redirectedTo();
 	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * Sets the HTTP status code
+	 */
+	static function set_status_code($code) {
+		return Controller::curr()->getResponse()->setStatusCode($code);
+	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * Returns the current HTTP status code
+	 */
+	static function get_status_code() {
+		return Controller::curr()->getResponse()->getStatusCode();
+	}
 
 	/*
 	 * Redirect back
diff --git a/core/control/HTTPResponse.php b/core/control/HTTPResponse.php
index 99a5dd995..b667aeba1 100644
--- a/core/control/HTTPResponse.php
+++ b/core/control/HTTPResponse.php
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ class HTTPResponse extends Object {
 		if(isset(self::$status_codes[$code])) $this->statusCode = $code;
 		else user_error("Unrecognised HTTP status code '$code'", E_USER_WARNING);
 	}
+	function getStatusCode() {
+		return $this->statusCode;
+	}
 	
 	function setBody($body) {
 		$this->body = $body;
diff --git a/core/control/ModelAsController.php b/core/control/ModelAsController.php
index e7a047e94..ebf88d439 100644
--- a/core/control/ModelAsController.php
+++ b/core/control/ModelAsController.php
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@ class ModelAsController extends Controller implements NestedController {
 				$child = DataObject::get_one("SiteTree", "URLSegment = '$SQL_URLSegment'");
 			}
 			if(!$child) {
-
-				header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
+				Director::set_status_code(404);
 				$child = $this->get404Page();
 			}
 		
diff --git a/core/model/ErrorPage.php b/core/model/ErrorPage.php
index 6972798e6..c67752196 100755
--- a/core/model/ErrorPage.php
+++ b/core/model/ErrorPage.php
@@ -106,11 +106,6 @@ class ErrorPage extends Page {
  * Controller for ErrorPages.
  */
 class ErrorPage_Controller extends Page_Controller {
-	function init() {
-		parent::init();
-		
-		$this->response->setStatusCode($this->dataRecord->ErrorCode);
-	}
 }