Children not in School: Statutory Guidance
(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Paul Waugh)
All children deserve to receive a suitable education that enables them to thrive and achieve, and the Government are committed to ensuring that no child misses out. The Government have today launched a consultation on “Children Not in School: Statutory Guidance and Secondary Legislation”. This consultation sets out our proposals to help ensure that every child not in school is receiving a safe and suitable education.
Parents have a right to home educate, and we know many work hard to provide a suitable education for their children. Where parents choose to home educate, they must provide an efficient, full-time education suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs. Where a child is not receiving a suitable education, it is important that local authorities are able to identify this and take prompt, appropriate action.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 establishes new children not in school measures which, once commenced, will introduce:
compulsory children not in school registers in each local authority area in England and Wales, and accompanying duties on relevant parents and out-of-school education providers to give information for these registers;
a duty on local authorities to provide support to the parents of children on their registers;
changes to the school attendance order process to make it more efficient;
a requirement for local authority consent to home educate where children are:
on child protection plans or were previously on child protection plans in the previous five years;
subject to section 47 child protection inquiries; or
on the roll of a special school by arrangement of the local authority;
a requirement for local authorities to consider the home and other learning environments at the point of children not in school registration and when considering whether children should be required to attend school; and
the piloting of mandatory meetings in selected local authorities, for parents wishing to withdraw their child from school for home education.
Together, these measures establish a new statutory framework intended to improve local authorities’ visibility of children not in school, including children who are home educated, and to support local authorities to ensure that all children in their areas are receiving a safe and suitable education. These measures will further help local authorities to fulfil their duty to identify children not in receipt of a suitable education, understand the barriers they face, and to support them back into education. These measures extend and apply to both England and Wales. However, the guidance and regulations that are the subject of this consultation relate to England only.
During the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, the Government committed to publicly consult on the children not in school statutory guidance and regulations.
This consultation seeks input on the proposed content of the new children not in school statutory guidance. It brings together updated guidance on elective home education and the new children not in school measures into a single, comprehensive document. We are seeking views on the proposed content of the guidance, to ensure that it fosters positive relationships and collaboration between local authorities and parents, and facilitates the smooth integration of new duties into existing local authority functions when the measures come into force.
The consultation also seeks views on the policy content of statutory instruments which will be laid before Parliament following analysis of consultation responses. This includes on details such as the minimum threshold for the duty on parents and providers to share information, which previously garnered some debate during the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. Other policy details which we are seeking views on include how local authorities will determine whether education by regular attendance at school is in a child’s best interests for those in scope of the consent requirement and the operation of the mandatory meetings pilot.
The Department for Education is actively engaging with home educating families, groups, and relevant organisations. We have established stakeholder implementation forums to engage with a wide group of stakeholders, including currently home educating families. The new guidance and policy proposals contained in the consultation have been developed in collaboration with the implementation forums, which have provided valuable input and shared personal experiences to help inform decision making.
We will carefully consider the evidence and responses submitted through the consultation and use it to inform further development of the draft guidance, as well as the measures in the regulations. This consultation is an important opportunity to learn from those with relevant experience and ensure that the final guidance and regulations are clear and fit for purpose.
The consultation has been published on gov.uk and runs until 3 February 2027.
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