Home Education in the UK

Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 places the duty on parents — not the state — to ensure their child receives an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, ability, and aptitude, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. The word "otherwise" is the legal basis for home education.

There is no requirement in law to:

• Follow the National Curriculum
• Teach a set number of hours per day
• Have any teaching qualifications
• Register with the local authority (in England — Wales has different rules)
• Allow local authority inspectors into your home

What the law does require is that the education you provide is "efficient" and "full-time" and suitable for the child. The interpretation of these terms is broad, and home education can take many forms.

If your child is currently enrolled at a school and you wish to home educate, you must formally de-register them. The process is:

1. Write a letter to the headteacher stating that you are withdrawing your child to home educate. You do not need to give reasons or gain the school's permission.
2. The school must remove your child from the register and notify the local authority of the withdrawal.
3. You do not need to provide a curriculum plan or evidence of your approach at the point of de-registration.

Important exception: If your child has a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an EHCP and attends a school named in that document, you cannot simply de-register without the local authority's agreement. The EHCP must be amended before the child can be home educated (though parents can request this). The local authority retains its EHCP duties even if a child is home educated.

Once you are home educating, your local authority may contact you to ask for information about the education being provided. You are not legally required to allow home visits or to respond to every enquiry, but:

• If the LA has reasonable cause to believe that a suitable education is not being provided, it must serve a School Attendance Order (SAO), giving you 15 days to demonstrate the education is suitable.
• If you cannot demonstrate this, the SAO will require you to enrol your child at a specific school.
• Failure to comply with an SAO is a criminal offence.

Most home educating families find it helpful to maintain a portfolio of their child's work to demonstrate what they are doing, even if they choose not to share it with the LA proactively. Home education networks and organisations such as Education Otherwise can provide support and advice.

Home educated children are not automatically entered for GCSEs or other qualifications — parents must arrange and pay for these independently. Options include:

• Entering exams as a private candidate at an exam centre — many schools and further education colleges will accommodate private candidates (fees typically £50–£150 per exam).
• Distance learning providers (e.g., Interhigh, Wolsey Hall Oxford) which can prepare children for qualifications.
• Some home educated families choose vocational qualifications, apprenticeships, or other routes rather than traditional GCSEs.

From age 16, young people in England are required to remain in some form of education or training until age 18 (the Raising of the Participation Age), but this does not have to be in a school or college — part-time education or training combined with work counts.

Currently in England there is no legal requirement to register home educated children with the local authority. However, this may change. The Schools Bill and subsequent consultation papers have proposed a mandatory Children Not in School (CNIS) register, under which parents would be required to notify their local authority when they withdraw a child from school to home educate or when a child of compulsory school age never enters the school system.

Current position (as at 2026)

Registration is voluntary. Many local authorities encourage families to register informally, and some provide support or advice to registered home educators. You are not legally required to engage with this voluntary register, and registration does not confer any obligation to follow a set curriculum or to allow home visits.

Local authority enquiries

Even without a registration duty, a local authority can and does make informal enquiries about home educated children. Where an LA has reasonable cause to believe that a child of compulsory school age is not receiving a suitable education, it has a duty under section 437 of the Education Act 1996 to serve a notice on the parent requiring them to satisfy the LA within 15 days that the child is receiving a suitable education. If the parent fails to satisfy the LA, the authority may issue a School Attendance Order (SAO) requiring enrolment at a named school. Failure to comply with an SAO is a criminal offence.

If you receive an LA enquiry letter, you are not required to allow a home visit or to disclose your curriculum. A written description of your educational approach, supported by samples of work or a learning log, is usually sufficient to satisfy the LA. Organisations such as Education Otherwise and Home Education UK provide template letters and practical advice for responding to LA enquiries.

School Attendance Orders — defending a challenge

If an SAO is served and you believe you are providing a suitable education:

1. Respond within the 15-day notice period with detailed evidence of the education being provided.
2. If the LA still pursues the SAO, request a meeting with the SEND or education welfare team and bring an advocate if possible.
3. If the SAO is issued and you believe it is unjustified, you can apply to the magistrates' court to have it revoked — the court will assess whether a suitable education is in fact being provided.

An SAO is relatively rare where parents are engaged, articulate, and able to demonstrate that the education they are providing is genuinely suitable for the individual child. The bar for "suitable" is deliberately broad — there is no requirement to mirror the school curriculum.