This page is a plain-English overview for families. It’s not legal advice.
This page is written mainly for England. Home education is legal across the UK, but the law, guidance and local authority practice differ in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Home education law and guidance evolve over time. If you have feedback or suggestions, please let us know.
If you’re unsure about your specific situation, consider getting independent advice.
Last Updated: 23rd September 2026
Quick summary (England): Parents have a legal duty to ensure their child receives an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs, either by attendance at school or otherwise.
Home education remains lawful and home educated children do not generally have to follow the National Curriculum.
Local authorities can make informal enquiries if it appears a child may not be receiving a suitable education, and can use formal steps including a School Attendance Order if concerns are not resolved.
2026 update: the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 and is now the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. It creates major new provisions affecting home education, including Children Not in School registers, information duties, home and learning-environment provisions, additional consent rules and changes to School Attendance Orders. However, not every provision came into force on Royal Assent, so it is important to distinguish the law Parliament has enacted from the rules currently operating in practice.
The legal starting point in England
The core legal duty sits with the parent. Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 says that the parent of every child of compulsory school age must cause them to receive an efficient full-time education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude, and to any special educational needs they may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.
What does “suitable” mean?
In broad terms, education needs to be appropriate to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs, and equip them for life within their community without limiting their options in later life. It does not automatically mean following the National Curriculum or reproducing school at home.
Do I have to follow a timetable?
“Full-time” does not have a single fixed hourly definition in law for home education. Home education also often works differently from school because learning can happen individually, flexibly and across everyday activities. What matters legally is whether the education being provided is efficient, full-time and suitable.
National Curriculum: GOV.UK continues to state that parents educating a child at home do not have to follow the National Curriculum. The new Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 does not turn ordinary elective home education into school-at-home.
Starting home education: do you need permission?
For many families in England, you do not need the local authority’s permission simply to choose home education. But the exact process depends on your child’s circumstances.
If your child is at a mainstream school
- If you are withdrawing your child completely for home education, you should tell the school.
- Under the current general position, the school must accept a complete withdrawal where the usual rules apply.
- If you want your child to attend school only part-time and home educate for the rest, that is different: the school does not have to agree to flexi-schooling.
Situations with extra rules
- If your child attends school because of a School Attendance Order, council permission is required before home education.
- If your child attends a special school, council permission can be required before their name is removed from the school roll.
- The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 creates additional consent requirements for specified safeguarding categories once the relevant provisions are commenced.
Important: the 2026 Act creates a wider future consent mechanism covering, among others, certain children subject to section 47 enquiries, children on child protection plans, children who were on a child protection plan within the previous five years, and specified special-school pupils. This is not the same as saying that every parent in England now needs council permission to home educate.
What parents are usually asked to provide
There is no single mandatory “home education report” format in England. But if a local authority has questions about whether suitable education is being provided, parents are commonly asked to provide enough information for the authority to reach a properly informed view.
What a clear report can show
- What your child has been learning or exploring.
- Examples of activities, projects, reading, trips or discussions.
- How learning is organised in a way that fits your child and family.
- How skills, knowledge, development or interests are being supported over time.
- How your approach takes account of your child’s age, ability, aptitude and any SEN.
Important to know
- There is not one universal report template every family must use.
- A clear, factual summary can be more useful than large amounts of paperwork.
- Evidence can take many forms: notes, examples of work, photos, reading, projects and other information.
- You do not need to recreate school assessment systems simply to demonstrate that education is happening.
Get Strew Home Education App
If you want a simpler way to keep a clear record of learning and prepare structured reports when needed, you can download Strew for free:
Local authority role: what they can (and can’t) do
Under the current framework in England, local authorities have responsibilities relating to children who may not be receiving suitable education, as well as separate safeguarding duties. GOV.UK states that a council can make an informal enquiry to check that a child is receiving a suitable education at home.
The Department for Education’s elective home education guidance says local authorities should ordinarily make contact with home educating parents and that, where information provided is not sufficient to demonstrate that suitable education is taking place, further enquiries may be appropriate.
They can ask
- For information that helps them understand whether suitable education is being provided.
- About your broad educational approach, resources, activities and opportunities.
- For examples that help demonstrate education in practice.
- To meet you and/or your child, although the legal significance of a request depends on the circumstances and legal route being used.
Under the current general EHE framework
- You do not have to follow the National Curriculum.
- There is no statutory home-education timetable matching school hours.
- There is no universal statutory requirement to use one particular report, test or evidence format.
- A routine informal enquiry is not itself a general power of entry into your home.
Context matters. Formal statutory processes, safeguarding powers and the new provisions in the 2026 Act can create different duties or consequences, so check the legal basis of a request rather than assuming every council contact has the same status.
Practical tip: Keep communication calm, factual and focused on education. If a request is unclear or unusually broad, you can ask what information is being requested and the legal or guidance basis for it.
Do you have to accept a home visit?
Under the longstanding elective home education framework, there is no general statutory duty requiring every home educating family to allow a routine local authority officer into the home simply because they home educate.
However, this is an area where the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 makes an important change. The Act creates provisions requiring local authorities to consider a child’s home and other learning environments when the new Children Not in School framework applies, and gives authorities a power to request a home visit.
Important distinction: the Act describes a power to request a home visit; it does not create a general power of forced entry for this purpose. But once the relevant provisions are in force, refusing a requested visit can be a relevant factor when the authority decides whether to begin the preliminary School Attendance Order process. So “the council can force its way into every home” and “a home visit can always be refused with no consequence” are both misleading summaries.
If the local authority is not satisfied
If it appears to the local authority that a child of compulsory school age is not receiving suitable education, the Education Act 1996 provides a formal route which can ultimately lead to a School Attendance Order (SAO).
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 also makes significant changes to the SAO framework, including new preliminary-notice procedures, statutory timeframes and links with the new Children Not in School information duties. These changes need to be read alongside commencement provisions rather than assumed to have replaced every existing process immediately on Royal Assent.
Important: if a matter escalates into a formal notice or School Attendance Order process, pay close attention to the exact document, deadline and statutory basis. This is a sensible point to consider independent legal or specialist advice.
What helps in practice
- Specific examples of learning: projects, books, trips, discussions and skills.
- Consistency over time: a timeline or dated notes can make your provision easier to understand.
- Clarity about your approach: child-led, project-based, structured, semi-structured, autonomous, etc.
- Evidence that fits your family: there is no benefit in generating paperwork purely for its own sake.
Record keeping: what’s “enough”?
There is no single mandated format for ordinary home education records. But keeping a simple record can be useful for your own reflection, spotting progress, remembering what you have done, and responding clearly if questions arise.
Simple evidence ideas
- Short dated learning-log notes.
- Photos with a one-line explanation.
- Reading lists and library visits.
- Projects, models, drawings and writing samples.
- Trips, clubs, volunteering and community learning.
- Online courses, videos, conversations and practical skills.
Helpful framing
- What did your child do?
- What were they exploring or practising?
- What knowledge or skills did they use or develop?
- How does this fit into their wider education?
- What might they explore next, if relevant?
Want practical examples? Read: Evidence of learning in home education or see Strew’s report generator.
2026 law update: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. It is no longer a proposed Bill: Parliament has enacted a new statutory framework affecting children who are not in school.
The most important practical point is that enacted does not necessarily mean commenced. Different provisions can be brought into force at different times, and some practical details depend on regulations and statutory guidance.
The Act provides for
- Compulsory Children Not in School registers maintained by local authorities in England and Wales.
- New information duties for parents and, in some circumstances, out-of-school education providers.
- A duty to provide certain support to parents of children on the register when requested.
- Consideration of the child’s home and other learning environments, with powers to request home visits.
- A revised School Attendance Order process.
- Additional local authority consent requirements for specified children before withdrawal from school for home education.
- Mandatory pre-withdrawal meetings to be piloted in selected local authority areas.
What it does not mean
- Home education has not been abolished.
- There is not a blanket requirement for every parent to obtain permission to home educate.
- The National Curriculum has not become compulsory for ordinary elective home education.
- The Act does not create a general power of forced entry into every home educating family’s home.
- You should not assume every new provision began operating on 29 April 2026.
Current status: GOV.UK’s current parent-facing home education guidance still describes the familiar present-day framework: home education is lawful; parents do not have to follow the National Curriculum; councils can make informal enquiries about suitability; and the existing special-school and School Attendance Order permission rules continue to matter. As the 2026 Act’s Children Not in School provisions are commenced and new guidance is published, the practical position will change.
We have a separate detailed guide covering the new law: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026: guide for home educating parents.
FAQs
Is home education legal in England?
Yes. Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 expressly allows parents to fulfil their education duty through regular attendance at school or otherwise. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 does not abolish home education.
Do I have to inform the local authority that I’m home educating?
Under the current general position, there is not a universal requirement for every parent whose child has never attended school to register as a home educator simply because they choose home education. If your child is already registered at a school, you should tell the school if you are withdrawing them completely for home education. Special rules apply in some situations, including School Attendance Orders and special-school placements. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 creates a new Children Not in School registration framework which will change information duties when the relevant provisions are in force.
Do I need permission to deregister my child from a mainstream school?
Under the current general position, a parent withdrawing a child completely from an ordinary mainstream school for elective home education does not normally need local authority permission. GOV.UK says you should tell the school, and the school must accept a complete withdrawal where the normal rules apply. Different rules apply to some children, including children subject to a School Attendance Order and certain special-school pupils. The 2026 Act also creates wider consent rules for specified safeguarding categories once commenced.
Do I need to follow the National Curriculum?
No. GOV.UK states that home educated children do not have to follow the National Curriculum. The legal requirement is to provide an efficient, full-time education suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs.
How many hours a day must I home educate?
There is no single statutory number of daily teaching hours for elective home education. “Full-time” is not defined as a fixed home-education timetable. The overall education must be efficient, suitable and full-time, taking account of the way home education can differ from classroom schooling.
Can the local authority insist on seeing my child?
Under the longstanding general EHE framework, councils may ask to meet or speak with a child, but there is not a general rule saying every home educated child must routinely be seen in the home. Context matters, particularly where safeguarding powers or formal statutory processes are involved. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 also creates new home and learning-environment provisions which include a power to request home visits when the relevant framework is in force.
Can the council force a home visit?
The 2026 Act describes a power to request a home visit as part of the new Children Not in School framework; it does not create a general power of forced entry for that purpose. However, once those provisions apply, refusal can be a relevant factor in deciding whether to begin the preliminary School Attendance Order process.
Do I have to send the council a home education report every year?
There is no single national rule requiring every home educator to submit one standard annual report in a prescribed format. Local authorities can make enquiries about whether education is suitable, and keeping a concise report or learning record can make those enquiries easier to answer. The new Children Not in School framework will introduce more formal information duties once commenced, but that is not the same as imposing one universal school-style report template.
What happens if the local authority believes education is unsuitable?
The authority can make further enquiries and, where the statutory conditions are met, use the formal School Attendance Order process. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 makes further changes to that process. If you receive a formal notice, pay attention to its statutory basis and deadlines and consider getting specific advice.
Can a child with SEN or an EHCP be home educated?
Yes. Having SEN or an Education, Health and Care Plan does not itself make home education unlawful. GOV.UK currently states that council permission is not required simply because a child at a mainstream school has an EHC plan. Different rules apply where a child attends certain special schools, and the 2026 Act also contains relevant consent provisions.
Has the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill become law?
Yes. It received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 and is now the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. The important remaining question is when individual provisions come into force and what regulations and statutory guidance say about their practical operation.
Will every home educating family have to go on the new Children Not in School register?
The new statutory framework covers eligible children of compulsory school age, including most children receiving their education entirely outside a relevant school and some mixed arrangements. The exact practical duties should be read alongside commencement regulations and the final implementation guidance rather than assumed to be operating already.
What records should I keep?
There is no need to document every moment. Useful records can include dated notes, books, projects, trips, photos, practical activities, writing, conversations, online learning and other examples that make your child’s education understandable over time.
Get Strew Home Education App
If you want a simpler way to keep a clear record of learning and prepare structured reports when needed, you can download Strew for free:
Want a simpler way to keep records and prepare reports?
Strew helps families keep a clear, structured record of learning so they’re better prepared if they need to explain their home education or share information with their local authority. Log learning moments, add photos, and turn everyday activities into something clear and easy to review, without turning home education into paperwork.
Privacy note: your family’s record is yours. Share only what you choose.
Further reading
- GOV.UK: Educating your child at home
- DfE: Elective home education guidance
- Education Act 1996: Section 7
- Education Act 1996: Section 437
- Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026
- DfE: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 policy summary
About this page: this is a general plain-English overview, not legal advice. Home education law can interact with school registration rules, SEN law, safeguarding law and individual court or local authority processes. If your circumstances involve a formal notice, safeguarding process, special-school placement or another unusual legal situation, check the specific rules that apply.