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/
Update April 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. These amendments were agreed by the Commons on March 9th. The Wellbeing Bill looks set to receive royal assent by early May 2026.
- 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.
Impact Assessment
Impact assessments for the proposed measures can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments