The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which has almost finished going through parliament sets out proposals for local authority compulsory registers of children not in school. My main bill page is here https://edyourself.org/childrens-wellbeing-schools-bill/ Click here to read the CNIS clauses of the bill onscreen https://shorturl.at/eJleP
Update February 2026
At the end of January the House of Lords passed amendments to the Wellbeing Bill reducing the reporting burden on parents for the children not in school register.
- Simplifying the information that parents must provide for registers, parents only need to submit information about out-of-school education providers that provide education to their child when that education exceeds a prescribed amount of time (to be set in regulations)
- Requiring parents to give just an estimate of time that the child spends receiving education from their parents and an estimate of the overall time the child is being educated by out-of-school education providers.
- Requiring parents to update this information only upon request, rather than every 15 days. Requests would be made at least every 12 months, but not more frequently than once every three months. More information here https://edyourself.org/government-amendments-for-lords-report-3/
10 Minutes A Year
The Department for Education estimates that it will take 21 minutes per year to read new guidance about educational providers [s436C(1)] , plus 10 minutes per child per year collecting the information to be reported, plus “10 minutes reporting time per student. This is an annual cost, and is thought to be a conservative estimate, as reporting will take place via short phone calls or emails.” [page 35]
The link for the document is here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67dd5d05d8e313b503358c04/Children_Not_in_School.pdf Children Not In School Registers Regulatory Impact Assessment as amended in the House of Commons Ref: DfE-CWSB-RP-05 PDF, 426 KB, 38 pages published March 21st 2025. The first page says IA number: DfE-CWSB-05 RPC reference number: RPC-DfE-24016-IA (1)
It can be accessed via this page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments
The document is NOT linked from the main bill page https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3909/publications
School Attendance Order Fines
Page 10 of this same CNIS Impact Assessment says “It should be stressed that the only financial burden resulting from these measures on parents will be on those who are issued with a SAO, breach it and are convicted for that breach. Consequently, these costs are avoidable entirely through compliance.”
Page 23 adds “One further potential impact on households will be the increased financial penalty for those parents who are convicted in a criminal court of breaching the terms of a school attendance order. The maximum penalty will be raised to £2,500, bringing in line with the fine for knowingly failing to cause a child to attend school. More families could potentially be caught by this as failure to provide information for a LA’s register will be an additional trigger for the local authority to instigate the SAO process, which may increase the number of families who are subject to that process and subsequently result in a conviction … We can predict from Ministry of Justice data that the number of families ultimately subject to a fine for breach of a SAO will be low compared to the overall number of SAOs that are issued.
Page 24 goes on to say “If a parent home-educating their child, who is eligible for the inclusion on the registers, does not provide necessary information to their local authority, the local authority may commence the SAO process. If the parent does not provide evidence of a suitable education during this process, the local authority will issue the SAO. If the parent breaches the SAO, they will be guilty of an offence and liable for a fine and potential imprisonment“
School Attendance Order Prosecutions
My MP initially asked the Department for Education about SAO prosecutions and fines, but was told DfE did not hold the information so has now asked the Ministry of Justice. [LINK]. See also my earlier FOI here [LINK]