Here are the 3 main questions I am asked about the Wellbeing Bill:
- Will I still be allowed to home educate?
- If my child has an EHCP does that mean they can’t be home educated?
- How soon is all this happening?
Will I still be allowed to home educate
This question is really in two parts – 1/ child still in school but home education needed as a future option and; 2/ already home educating (or just started) and worrying that children can be sent back to school.
Coming OUT OF SCHOOL is in clause 30 while being able to STAY IN HOME EDUCATION (not being sent back to school) is in clauses 31 and 32.
Coming Out of School
This page is about clause 30, taking a child out of school to be home educated. Clause 30 was debated in the Lords on July 3rd 2025. (For children who are ALREADY home educated, including those just starting home education, see https://edyourself.org/faq-2-childrens-wellbeing-bill/ )
My main concerns about clause 30 are:
- parents will avoid getting EHCPs for fear of being locked into a special school arrangement
- families with disabled children and households headed by single mothers will be disproportionately impacted
- it hands power to anyone opposed to home education (school, neighbours, family members) who can report “safeguarding concerns”
- the local authority may feel defensively pressured to investigate home education safeguarding concerns at a higher level (section 47 risk of significant harm)
Coming Out Of School Current Law
Parents wishing to take their child out of school for home education need to get the child taken off the school roll first. Otherwise if the child is still a pupil but not being sent in to school, the child may be viewed as a truant and the parent may be committing an offence (fines and potentially prison)
At present the law says that children can be taken off the school roll if parents write to the school to say the child is being home educated. The school must also tell the local authority when a child is taken off roll. This applies whether or not the child has an EHCP as long as it is a mainstream school.
For England (although it is also intended that the new legislation will also apply to Wales) this is currently set out in the School Attendance Pupil Registration Regulations 2024. My page on deregistering from school is here https://edyourself.org/deregistration/
The exception to the child being taken off roll straight away is for pupils at special schools. My page on special school deregistration is here https://edyourself.org/taking-child-out-of-special-school/ Current Regulations say that the school must ensure that the pupil’s name is not deleted unless the local authority have given their consent to the deletion.
In addition, the SEND Code of Practice, which is statutory guidance, says “If the school is a special school, the local authority must give consent for the child’s name to be removed, but this should not be a lengthy or complex process”. Read my page on the Code here https://edyourself.org/send-code-of-practice/
I am already seeing parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities choosing not to get an EHCP because of concerns about the new law. (An EHCP is an Education Health and Care Plan, England only- read more here https://edyourself.org/ehcp-introduction/ The equivalent (LA IDP) in Wales is described here https://edyourself.org/wales-home-educating-with-special-needs/ )
When Is Child Registered
Future Law Special School
The Wellbeing Bill says that a local authority “must refuse consent [for a child at special school to be home educated] if the local authority considers that it would be in the child’s best interests to receive education by regular attendance at school” [Condition A Clause 30 Page 51]
Condition A therefore takes what is already in law about the authority having to give consent for deregistration from special school, and changes it to REFUSING consent unless the parent can persuade the LA that home education is BETTER than school.
Page 53 of the bill says parents effectively have to wait 6 months before they can ask again [“the authority is only required to make a new decision … if a period of 6 months has elapsed since the date of the previous application.”]
Despite what you may have read elsewhere, the Wellbeing Bill only says this about special schools and not about EHCPs in mainstream schools.
Mission Creep
I am aware of thin end of the wedge arguments where it is only a matter of time once best interests is enshrined in law before there is inevitable mission creep and ratchet effect where best interests will apply to all children with EHCPs and even children without EHCPs.
This is impossible to disprove and may even be highly likely but it is not what the bill says.
Future Law Safeguarding
However, the Wellbeing Bill does also say that a local authority must apply its own version of “best interests” [ie home versus school] if the LA is (a) conducting enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 … or (b) taking action under section 47(8) of that Act to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare, in a case where the enquiries mentioned in paragraph (a) have led the local authority to conclude that the child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm”
This is described in the Wellbeing Bill as Condition B and can be found on page 51 line 15-23
For more information about section 47 see https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/41/section/47 . Meanwhile this link from Corams explains about child protection plans https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/child-protection-case-conference-and-child-protection-plans/
Future School Keeping Pupil On Roll
The Wellbeing Bill says that in the circumstances outlined above [Condition A and Condition B] where the the consent of the local authority is required, 1/ the school must notify the local authority responsible for the school (and the LA where the child lives if different), and 2/ “must not allow the deletion from the school’s register of the name of that child unless the proprietor receives notice that the relevant local authority has granted consent under this section in respect of that child” [page 52 lines 12-23]
It is easy to see how schools would implement this for Condition A (special school) but less easy for Condition B (safeguarding) as school might not know about a child protection enquiry or even about a child protection plan.
Some commentators are suggesting this could be interpreted on the ground as schools keeping ALL pupils on roll until the local authority has “checked for any safeguarding concerns” before a child is allowed to be home educated.
As with mission creep in regard to EHCP deregistration, delayed deregistration may become the norm and could be added later in secondary legislation especially as line 12 page 52 of the bill specifically mentions future “regulations“ but it is not what is on the face of the bill.
When Will All This Happen
Lords Committee
We don’t know if any of it will happen until we see the final version of the Wellbeing Bill when it receives royal assent. By the summer recess the House of Lords Committee had only just begun to look in detail at the Children Not In School clauses of the bill and will resume on September 2nd 2025. (See posts tagged July 3rd for more information https://edyourself.wordpress.com/tag/july-3rd/)
My best guess on earliest possible timing for the proposed changes to Children Not In School (whichever form they finally take) would be the end of 2025 for the bill to become law and Autumn 2026 for guidance to be issued enabling the relevant sections of the Act to be commenced.