Proposals to give councils more power to check on pupils not in school will be “significantly insufficient” unless they get funding to build capacity – with some “hollowed-out” authorities having no dedicated home education officers.
Labour’s schools bill will give councils new duties to check family homes are a “suitable learning environment” for children not in school and provide support. They will also have to keep a register of these pupils.
But Andy Smith, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), said home education services had been “hollowed-out”.
The measures in themselves are not going to protect children or keep children safe
In Derby, where he works, there is just one full-time elective home education officer who “goes out and knocks on doors and tries to talk to parents”.
He said the proposed changes would be “significantly insufficient. We need to be really…clear that the measures in themselves are not going to protect children or keep children safe.
“The child protection powers are welcome, but we also need to think about the capacity and the resources going to be required to visit children in their homes [and] the training that will be required.”
More than 150,000 home educated
Schools Week approached a number of councils and asked for staff numbers.
York had none. Instead the home education duties were shared by a school inclusion and an attendance adviser. Havering had none, but was recruiting two.
Waltham Forest had just one home education officer, while Kensington and Chelsea had one who worked across two boroughs. Brighton and Bexley had 1.5 full-time equivalents, and Newcastle had two.
According to data published by the Department for Education, more than 150,000 children were home-educated at some point last year, up from 126,000 in 2023.
Meanwhile, another 150,000 were estimated as missing education last year.
Attempts to change legislation around home education come after the death of Sara Sharif, who was murdered by her father and stepmother after she was pulled out of mainstream education in April 2023.
But Julie McCulloch, policy director at the Association of School and College Leaders, said it had “concerns” over whether the “capacity and expertise still exists in local authorities” to take on more duties.
“The education system in England is increasingly fragmented and lacks coherence, and we see the role of a local authority essentially eroded, even though our duties essentially haven’t changed that much.”
Schools must focus on inclusion
Kent County Council employs eight home education officers. Sarah Hammond, its corporate director children, young people and education, welcomed the legislation, but said schools must focus more on inclusion.
“If schools could get to that holy grail of full inclusion for the community of children that they are serving, I think you would naturally see elective home-education drop off.”
She said the legislation would create “quite a big remit” for councils.
Councillor John Howson, an education cabinet member in Oxfordshire, said councils should also be allowed to create their own schools for children missing education.
“Such a new school along the lines of the online academies the DfE already permits should be able to ensure that ‘no child is left behind’.”
The schools bill also beefs up councils’ powers to intervene and demand school attendance, and compel them to check whether a child’s home learning environment is suitable when making such orders.
It will also remove the automatic right for parents to home-school their child if they are subject to a protection investigation or are under a protection plan – meaning they are suspected of being at risk of significant harm.
In a written question in parliament this month Stephen Morgan, the minister for early education, confirmed the proposed legislation would create “additional burdens for local authorities”.
But he said: “Additional funding will therefore be provided to support local authorities to carry out these new duties. As part of our implementation strategy, we will conduct a new burdens assessment to determine the level of funding.”
Ruth Stanier, assistant director of policy at the Local Government Association (LGA), added discussions were underway, but full cost estimates had yet to be drawn up.
