The bill requires every local authority in England to keep a register of children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school or who are registered but will be educated away from school for some or all of the time. The register must include identity details plus prescribed information about education arrangements, SEN, child‑welfare contacts and—if available—protected characteristics; publication that identifies individuals is prohibited.
The bill creates duties on parents to notify and update the register (with 15‑day deadlines), gives local authorities powers to serve notices on out‑of‑school education providers and impose monetary penalties for non‑compliance, allows data sharing with the Secretary of State and prescribed persons for safeguarding purposes, and places a duty on authorities to provide support to families on request unless the child is in a registered school or already covered by other statutory arrangements. The measure shifts recordkeeping and compliance obligations onto local authorities, parents and informal providers, while raising privacy and resourcing questions for implementation.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill obliges local authorities in England to maintain a register of children eligible for registration because they are not registered pupils or will be educated out of school, prescribes the categories of information to be recorded (including protected characteristics and SEN where available), and bars public publication of identifying entries. It authorises notices to out‑of‑school education providers, monetary penalties for failure to respond, data sharing with the Secretary of State and others, and a limited duty for local authorities to provide support to families on request.
Who It Affects
Local authorities (administration and compliance), parents who educate children at home or use out‑of‑school provision, unregulated out‑of‑school education providers, schools that arrange off‑site education, and central government bodies that may receive aggregated or individual data.
Why It Matters
This bill creates a formal, statutory infrastructure for tracking children outside mainstream schools—something previously handled unevenly—while embedding collection of sensitive personal data and enforcement tools. For compliance officers and LA directors, it establishes new operational, data‑protection and resource implications; for home educators and informal providers, it introduces reporting duties and potential fines.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill creates a new statutory register that every local authority in England must maintain for children of compulsory school age who are not registered at a school or who are registered at a school but will be educated away from school for some or all of the normal attendance times. The definition of a "relevant school" mirrors existing categories (maintained schools, academies, non‑maintained special schools and registered independent institutions), and regulations can carve out edge cases for eligibility.
The register must contain basic identity and contact details and prescribed information about the child’s education arrangements; importantly, it may also include sensitive categories such as a child’s protected characteristics and details of special educational needs, EHC plans, previous or current involvement in section 47 enquiries or child‑in‑need status, looked‑after status, and whether the child has been identified as not receiving suitable education. Local authorities must keep the register up to date and regulations will set the form, access rules and publicity obligations; the bill expressly forbids publishing registers in a way that would identify a child or parent.The bill places duties on parents: within 15 days of a child becoming eligible for registration the parent must notify the local authority and provide available identity and contact information, and parents must respond to LA requests for information or updates within at least 15 days.
There are statutory exceptions where the child is in full‑time education through LA arrangements, arrangements by a school proprietor, or attendance at a relevant school, so the duties do not apply to children already covered by those paths.To reach providers who offer structured education outside school, the bill empowers local authorities to serve notices on out‑of‑school education providers when the authority reasonably believes the provider is instructing children without a parent present for more than a prescribed amount of time. Those notices can require confirmation and specified information within 15 days; failure to comply, or providing false information, can attract a monetary penalty set by regulation.
Finally, the Secretary of State can direct LAs to provide prescribed information from their registers, LAs may share child‑level information with prescribed persons for safeguarding, must transfer prescribed data when a child moves between areas, and must, on parental request, provide or secure support tailored to the child’s needs unless the child is a registered pupil or LA arrangements already apply.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Local authorities must maintain a register of children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils or who will be educated away from school for some or all expected attendance time.
Parents must notify the local authority within 15 days when a child becomes eligible for registration and must respond to LA requests or update the register within specified 15‑day periods.
Registers must record prescribed data including identity details and may include protected characteristics, SEN/EHC plan status, child‑welfare contacts (section 47 activity, child‑in‑need, looked‑after), and reasons for home education.
Local authorities can serve notices on out‑of‑school education providers requiring information, and may impose monetary penalties (per Schedule 31A and regulations) for failure to comply or for providing incorrect information.
The Secretary of State may direct authorities to supply prescribed register information and authorities may share child‑level information with prescribed persons for safeguarding; LAs must transfer prescribed register data when a child moves area.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Who must be on the register — eligibility and definition of "relevant school"
This section sets the scope of the register: a child is eligible if they live in the LA area, are of compulsory school age, and are either not a registered pupil at a "relevant school" or are a registered pupil who will receive education outside school for some or all of the time they would otherwise attend. "Relevant school" is defined to include maintained schools, academies, non‑maintained special schools and registered independent institutions. The provision also gives the Secretary of State power to make regulations clarifying borderline cases where a child should or should not count as falling within the out‑of‑school category.
Register content, form and restrictions on publication
This section prescribes what must and may go into the register. Mandatory items include the child’s name, date of birth, home address and parental names/addresses; regulations prescribe other required fields, such as details of how the child is being educated. Additionally, to the extent the LA has or can reasonably obtain them, the register may include protected characteristics, SEN and EHC plan status, records of section 47 enquiries or child‑in‑need activity, looked‑after status, education history, reasons for home education and whether support is provided. The LA may store other information it considers appropriate. The section also empowers regulations on how the register is maintained, updated, stored and who can access it, and it forbids publishing entries in any way that would identify a child or parent.
Parental duties and time limits for notification and updates
This section creates statutory duties on parents to inform the LA when their child becomes eligible for registration and to provide specified identity and contact information. Parents must also comply with LA requests for additional register fields and notify the LA of changes within fixed "relevant periods," typically 15 days from the triggering event. The duties do not apply where the child is in full‑time education via LA arrangements, school proprietor arrangements, or attending a relevant school. This establishes bright‑line timeframes aimed at prompt recordkeeping but will require enforcement mechanisms and clarity about what information parents 'have' and must supply.
Notices to out‑of‑school education providers and penalties
When an LA reasonably believes a person is providing out‑of‑school education without a parent present beyond a prescribed threshold, it can serve a notice requiring confirmation and prescribed information (including the items in section 436C(1)). Notices are served at the place where education is provided and must be complied with within 15 days unless regulations create exceptions. Failure to respond, or providing incorrect information, permits the LA to impose a monetary penalty in accordance with a schedule (31A) and regulations that set the prescribed penalty amounts. This creates a route to regulate informal providers but hinges on definitions such as "prescribed amount of time" and how LAs establish reasonable belief.
Data sharing, transfers between authorities and Secretary of State access
This section allows the Secretary of State to direct LAs to provide prescribed information from their registers and permits LAs to disclose child‑level register data to prescribed persons when appropriate for promoting or safeguarding children. It also requires LAs to transfer prescribed register information to another LA when a registered child moves area. The combination of mandatory reporting to central government and permitted sharing for safeguarding gives central authorities visibility while leaving LAs discretion to share with agencies like health or social care services within prescribed limits.
Duty to provide support to families on request
If a parent of a registered child requests it, the LA must provide or secure support to promote the child’s education and safeguarding, tailored to the child’s age, ability and any SEN. Support examples include advice, signposting to assistance, provision of services (including possible financial assistance) and access to non‑educational services. The duty is subject to exceptions where the child attends a relevant school or the LA is already required to provide education arrangements under existing statutory duties; otherwise it creates a positive, discretionary‑looking support obligation that will require local resourcing and policy guidance.
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Explore Education in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Parents who request LA support for home‑educated children — they gain a statutory right to tailored advice, services and signposting that can assist with special educational needs, safeguarding referrals and access to resources.
- Children at risk or with unmet needs — formal registration and prescribed data fields (section 47, child‑in‑need, looked‑after status, SEN) give LAs and safeguarding partners clearer sight of vulnerable children who are outside school settings.
- Local authorities and central government — legally mandated registers provide consistent data for planning, safeguarding oversight and aggregated policy analysis that was previously fragmented and inconsistent across areas.
Who Bears the Cost
- Local authorities — must design, maintain and secure registers, process notifications, issue notices to providers, collect and share data, enforce penalties, and deliver support services; this creates staffing, IT and training costs without explicit funding in the bill text.
- Out‑of‑school education providers (including informal tutors and organisations) — face new compliance duties to respond to LA notices and risk monetary penalties if they fail to supply information or supply incorrect data.
- Parents and home educators — take on repeat notification and update obligations within 15‑day windows and may face scrutiny of reasons for home education; some families will perceive increased intrusion and administrative burden.
- Data‑protection and safeguarding partners (schools, health and social care) — may face increased data‑sharing requests and responsibility to handle sensitive information securely, with attendant compliance costs and risk management obligations.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is balancing the state’s legitimate interest in identifying and safeguarding children outside mainstream schooling against parents’ rights to direct their children’s education and to privacy: stronger registration and enforcement improve visibility and potential protection for vulnerable children, but they also expand state recordkeeping of sensitive family information and impose new compliance burdens on parents, providers and under‑resourced local authorities—trade‑offs that the bill leaves to regulation and implementation choices.
The bill pursues clearer oversight of children educated outside school by combining registration, data collection and enforcement. That combination raises three implementation challenges.
First, the collection and retention of sensitive personal data—protected characteristics, SEN status, section 47 involvement and looked‑after status—heightens privacy risk and will require rigorous data‑protection impact assessments, secure IT systems, and clear retention and access rules in secondary regulations; the bill leaves many operational details to subordinate instruments. Second, the enforcement route against out‑of‑school providers depends on terms that need precise definition: what counts as "out‑of‑school education," how the "prescribed amount of time" is measured, and what establishes an LA’s "reasonable belief." Vague thresholds could produce uneven enforcement, legal challenge, or unnecessary penalty use against informal community providers.
Third, the duty on LAs to provide support interacts with current resource pressures—without earmarked funding, councils must absorb both administration of registers and bespoke support services, increasing the risk that the statutory duties exist on paper but are under‑resourced in practice.
Finally, the bill includes data‑sharing powers that give the Secretary of State and prescribed persons access to register information for safeguarding purposes, but it does not articulate strict purpose‑limitation or oversight mechanisms beyond the publication ban. That opens questions about secondary uses of data, centralisation of sensitive child records, and safeguards against mission creep.
The register could improve safeguarding visibility, but only if accompanied by robust governance and properly funded local delivery.
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