November 2025
Policy aims
This policy has been written to set out our duty to ensure all children in North Yorkshire are receiving an efficient suitable full-time education for the child’s age ability and aptitude as set out in the Department for Education's guidance 2019 Elective Home Education. This policy outlines how we intend to fulfil this duty.
It relates to the following legislation:
- European Convention of Human Rights, of Protocol 1 Article
- Education Act 1996, Section 7
Review date
This policy will be reviewed when there is a significant update from the Department of Education, or in the Autumn term 2028, whichever is sooner.
Introduction
This policy aims to inform schools, parents, local authority advisers and other related agencies across North Yorkshire about the policy and procedures to be followed where parents/carers make the choice to educate their children otherwise than at school, usually at home. This practice is known as Elective Home Education.
The term 'parent' is used throughout this policy to include all those with parental responsibility and carers. The policy does not apply to children receiving alternative educational provision from the local authority or because they are not attending school as a result of illness, exclusion or any other reason.
We recognise that elective home education is a key aspect of parental choice and is equal, in law, to education provided in school; however, we, as the local authority, have a duty to be satisfied that all children in North Yorkshire are receiving suitable education.
Policy principles
We:
- respect the rights of parents and carers to elect to educate their children at home
- recognise that there are many approaches to educational provision
- believe that all children should be involved in a learning process which meets their individual needs
- will work to promote positive relationships and mutual respect with parents for the benefit and educational wellbeing of children
This document sets out:
- our legal duties and responsibilities
- parents’ rights to educate their children at home and their responsibilities
- the legal duties and responsibilities of head teachers
It also sets out the arrangements we will make in order to carry out our legal duties under Sections 437 – 443 Education Act 1996, that is to say that if it appears that a child of compulsory school age is not receiving education suitable to age, ability, aptitude and special needs, to take steps to ensure that this is remedied.
Our duty and role
Funding
If parents do elect to home educate, they assume full financial responsibility for the child’s education, including the cost of any external assistance used such as tutors, parent groups or part-time alternative provision. Parents assume to bear the cost of any public examinations, resources such as books, stationary, IT, educational visits and sporting activities. We have no duty to support parents with this financial responsibility. For information relating to children who are Elective Home Education and have an Education Health Care Plan please see ‘Special education needs and high needs block funding’ below.
Pre-decision meeting
The Department for Education strongly recommended that ‘local authorities work with schools, parents and other key professionals to coordinate a meeting before the parent makes a final decision' (Department for Education Elective Home Education: Your duties, our expectations). The decision by a parent to Elective Home Educate is a serious one and it imposes onerous obligations on the parent to arrange and pay for the education of their child. As such, we wish to support parents to arrive at an informed decision before taking this step.
In North Yorkshire, there are Elective Home Education Advisers who meet with parents who are considering Elective Home Education prior to them making their final decision. This meeting is chaired by the Elective Home Education Adviser and is attended by parents, school and any relevant professionals who are also working with the child or family such as Social Workers, Early Help Workers and Health Specialists. The purpose of the meeting is to:
- discuss why Elective Home Education is being considered
- explore all options available to parents
- help overcome any issues which may have arisen in relation to school
- ensure parents have all the information available to them regarding Elective Home Education including access to the Department of Education Guidance
- introduce parents to a named contact who they can get in touch with regarding any queries
If parents do decide to Elective Home Education, section 7 of the Education Act 1996 means that the child must be receiving an ‘efficient, suitable full-time education’. See Appendix A.
NB. If a child has an Education Health Care Plan the SEN caseworker will arrange this pre-decision meeting due to the separate pathway regarding consent – please see section 'On roll of a special school' for more information.
Our duty
If a child is Elective Home Educated, we are required to enquire what education is being provided. Identification of children who are Elective Home Educated forms a significant element of fulfilling our duty under s.436A of the Education Act 1996: to make arrangements to enable the authority to establish, so far as it is possible to do so, the identities of children in its area who are not receiving a suitable education. Until we are satisfied that a child who is Elective Home Educated is receiving a suitable full-time education, then an Elective Home Education child is potentially in scope of this duty (S.4.2 Elective Home Education: departmental guidance for local authorities, Department of Education, 2019).
Please see Appendix B for ‘Defining Full-Time, Suitable and Efficient Education’.
Our overall factors
We take into account the overall factors below when assessing whether an education is suitable:
- where the education takes place
- when the education takes place
- resources/materials used
- educational content
- evidence of learning and progress
- appropriate for child’s ability, interests and future choices
- access to accreditation as appropriate
- access to learning that will benefit adulthood
- opportunities for socialisation and interaction
Our arrangements
The named contact for Elective Home Education within the council is the Lead for Education Other Than At School (EOTAS).
In North Yorkshire there are Elective Home Education Advisers who each work in one of the four locality hubs:
- Hambleton and Richmondshire
- Ripon, Knareborough, Harrogate and Craven
- Selby
- Scarborough, Ryedale, Whitby and Filey
The Elective Home Education Advisers make contact with parents around one month after they have chosen to Elective Home Educate their child, to give them the opportunity to share the education that is in place and to discuss any queries they have in relation to educating their child at home. The Elective Home Education Advisers use our overall factors and the Department of Education’s 2019 guidance on what constitutes a ‘suitable education’, outlined above, to establish whether the education being delivered meets the suitability threshold.
Education found suitable
Where the threshold is being met, the Elective Home Education Advisers will arrange further contact around 12 months later; however, this will be subject to the specific circumstances of the child including for example when/if they are due to sit exams. Parents can make contact with their Elective Home Education Adviser at any point in between, should they have any queries. Parents are also encouraged to contribute to the Local Offer page by sharing any recommended resources.
Education found unsuitable
If the education provided is not found suitable, the Elective Home Education Adviser will let parents know in what areas the education is falling down and will recommend what changes need to be made for the education to become suitable.
Parents will be given four weeks to act on the recommendations. At week four, if the education is still not suitable, the parents will be served a Notice under s.437 (1) of the Education Act 1996.
Although parents are not obliged to provide samples of work, Elective Home Education Advisers can ask for this on a case-by-case basis. If parents do not provide samples of work and we have reasonable concerns that a child is not in receipt of a full-time, suitable education, then we will take appropriate action to ascertain the education in place by serving a Notice under s.437 (1) of the Education Act 1996. This is in order to ensure that we are meeting our duties under the Education Act, 1996. Once this notice has been served the child/young person will be recorded as ‘Child Missing Education’ (CME). They will remain as Child Missing Education unless parents satisfy us that a suitable education is in place.
Notice under s.437 (1) and School Attendance Order (SAO) s437(3)
If the Elective Home Education Advisers find the education is not suitable, the parents will be served a Notice, under s.437 (1) of the Education Act 1996, and will have a further 15 days to satisfy us that a suitable education is in place before a Notice of Imminent Order s438 and a subsequent School Attendance Order s437(3) is served. The Elective Home Education Adviser will work alongside parents to ensure they understand why the education is not meeting the suitability threshold and will make recommendations regarding what changes need to be made to prevent a SAO from being served. If the recommendations are not acted upon, and the education remains unsuitable, an SAO will be served which will name the school at which the parents should cause the child to become a registered pupil.
Education Supervision Order (ESO)
If an SAO is not complied with, parents may face a prosecution through the Magistrates’ Courts under s443 of the Education Act 1996. A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale (up to £1,000). Alternatively, we have two other options (depending on the circumstances of the case); we may refer the case to Children’s Social Care for consideration of Care Proceedings; or an application can be made in the Family Proceedings Court for an Education Supervision Order (Section 36 of the Children’s Act 1989). For information that summarises the main features of the legal options open to us if we are satisfied that a child is not receiving a suitable education at home, please see Appendix D.
Safeguarding and welfare
The Elective Home Education Advisers will follow North Yorkshire’s Safeguarding Children Partnership procedures. Where there are significant immediate concerns about the safety of a child, professionals will contact 999. If there is a safeguarding concern, which is not significant or immediate, professionals will make a referral to the North Yorkshire Multi-Agency Screening Team (MAST). Professionals will gain consent to make a referral unless this will place this child at significant risk of harm. Where there is a welfare concern, the Elective Home Education Adviser will discuss the concerns with the EH Consultant and where appropriate make a referral to Early Help.
Parent’s rights and responsibilities
The law states it is the duty of parents to ensure the education of their children. In England, education is compulsory, but schooling is not. Parents may choose to educate their children at home instead of sending them to school and are not required to register or seek approval in order to educate their child at home, unless their child attends a special school, in which case the consent of the council is required.
The parents’ legal duty is set out in Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 (see Appendix A) and The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (see Appendix C).
Parent’s responsibility regarding funding
If parents do elect to home educate, they assume full financial responsibility for the child’s education, including the cost of any external assistance used, such as tutors, parent groups or part-time alternative provision. Parents assume to bear the cost of any public examinations, resources such as books, stationary, IT, educational visits and sporting activities. We have no duty to support parents with this financial responsibility.
It is worth noting that during lockdowns, when schools were closed due to Covid-19, although children on roll of a school received support with home education from their school, this did not apply to children who were already Elective Home Educated. This support has now ceased as schools have re-opened.
Whichever course a parent decides to take, it is a good idea for them to talk to the child and take their wishes and feelings about their education into account.
We have also issued guidance for parents who Elective Home Educate.
Removing a child from a school roll
There is no legal obligation on parents/carers to notify a school or the council if they decide to withdraw a child from school to Elective Home Education, save in the case of a child who attends a special school, in which case the consent of the council is required before the child can be removed from the school roll. However, we strongly encourage parents/carers to let the school and ourselves know. This will ensure the school does not pursue attendance procedures and will allow us to ensure parents/carers are aware of how to access the resources available for Elective Home Education, and are fully aware of their rights and responsibilities
The school cannot remove a child from roll without receiving written notification about the parent’s decision to provide education otherwise than at school (Pupil Registration Regulations 2006). The school must inform us of the parents/carers decision as soon as possible and should aim to do so on the same day.
As part of our duty to monitor placements in school, we maintain a record of those children who have been removed from a school roll to be electively home educated.
On roll of a special school
As per the Department of Education Elective Home Education guidance 2019, if a child or young person attends a specialist provision, the local authority's consent is required for the child’s name to be removed from roll and the following factors need to be considered:
If a school already attended by a child is a special school and the child is attending it under arrangements made by the local authority, the local authority’s consent is necessary for the child's name to be removed from the admission register, but this should not be a lengthy or complex process and consent must not be withheld unreasonably. If the child is to be withdrawn to be educated at home, then the local authority, in deciding whether to give consent, should consider whether the home education to be provided would meet the special educational needs of the child, and if it would, should give consent. However, that consideration should take into account the additional difficulties of providing education at home to a child whose special educational needs are significant enough to warrant a place at a special school.
When a special school becomes aware that a parent is considering Elective Home Education they must contact their SEN caseworker as soon as possible to arrange a pre-decision meeting. The SEN caseworker will arrange and chair the meeting and will ask school to record their views prior to the meeting taking place. The SEN caseworker will invite the Elective Home Education Adviser to attend as well as parent/s. During the meeting the SEN caseworker will gather the views of parents, the Elective Home Education Adviser and other relevant professionals who are working with the child. The SEN caseworker will inform the school that if the child/young person does become Elective Home Educated and if at the Education Health Care Plan Annual Review or through informal enquires the education is found unsuitable the school will be consulted and likely to be named in a School Attendance Order. The information gathered during the pre-decision meeting will be shared with the Lead of the Elective Home Education team and the Lead SEND and then the Inclusion Management Team will consider the request and reach an outcome. The SEN caseworker will share the outcome with parents and school. If the Inclusion Management Team agree to Elective Home Education the Education Health Care Plan will be amended as follows:
- Section F: ‘Parents have made their own arrangements under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996’
- Section I: will name the type of setting the child/young person previously attended
An Education Care Plan Annual Review will take place within three months of the child/young person becoming Elective Home Educated.
Refusal would only follow where the local authority considers that parents could not provide a suitable education to meet their child’s needs at home. The child would remain on the special school roll until either the Secretary of State ruled in favour of home education or parents were able to demonstrate how home education would be suitable.
Non-registered children
If a child has never been registered at a school, parents/carers are recommended to inform us of their decision to home educate.
Where children are registered with a school
If a child is registered at a school, then a decision to home educate may not be the best way to solve an issue with a school or to overcome difficulties with attendance. Parents/carers may be able to resolve these issues through collaboration with the head teacher or governors at the school, or through speaking to an Elective Home Education Adviser. Our Elective Home Education Advisers provide advice if parents/carers feel that any pressure is being put on them to take their child out of school to home educate.
The head teacher’s duty
It is the duty of the head teacher (Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006) to inform the local authority when a parent has confirmed in writing his or her decision to educate his or her child otherwise than at school. The pupil’s name will be deleted from the school admission register and the child will be recorded on a register kept by the council of children being home educated. See Appendix E for details.
If a child is on the roll of a special school and the local authority do not give consent to Elective Home Education, the child would remain on the special school roll until either the Secretary of State ruled in favour of home education or parents were able to demonstrate how home education would be suitable.
Special educational needs, Education Health Care Plan and high needs block funding
If the child has an Education Health and Care Plan, parents /carers still have the right to home educate. Parents/carers should discuss their decision to home educate with their SEN caseworker as soon as possible so that the SEN caseworker can explain the implications of this for the Education Health Care P. The SEN caseworker will inform the Elective Home Education Adviser that the parent/carer is considering Elective Home Education so that the Elective Home Education Advisor can arrange a pre-decision meeting. The SEN caseworker will inform the school at the pre-decision meeting that if the child/young person does become Elective Home Educated and if at the Education Health Care Plan Annual Review or through informal enquires the education is found unsuitable the school will be consulted and likely to be named in a School Attendance Order (SAO). If parents/carers do decide to Elective Home Education the Education Health Care Plan will be amended as follows:
- Section F: ‘Parents have made their own arrangements under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996’
- Section I: will name the type of setting the child/young person previously attended
An Education Health Care Plan Annual Review will take place within three months of the child/young person becoming Elective Home Educated. The SEN caseworker will invite the Elective Home Education Adviser to the review. If the education arranged by the parents is suitable, the local authority has no duty to arrange any special education provision for the child.
In accepting responsibility for the provision, parents do not receive the high needs block funding that would otherwise be provided to their child’s school or setting to deliver the provision in the Education Health Care Plan. However, high needs block funding is allocated to each local authority to meet the highest levels of special educational needs which includes children who are Electively Home Educated. Funding will not be provided for any input or intervention which could be classified as the ‘suitable education provision’ parents accept responsibility for. However, it may be that the local authority agrees that a specific special education need is a barrier for the child to access that ‘suitable provision’ made by parents and in which case may agree to deliver some support/intervention to overcome that barrier. This funding would come from within the child’s allocated high needs block resource were they to be in a school/setting. An example of this may be the SEND Hubs delivering a time-limited intervention to enable a child with SEND needs to access the education. It will not be for teaching/tuition, for example Maths, English, music, sports lessons which would constitute the ‘suitable education’ parents have responsibility to provide. The SEN caseworker can advise if something may be a specific SEND provision which could be funded in this way.
The Education Health Care Plan will need to be reviewed every year as this is a statutory process and progress towards educational outcomes should be monitored in that annual review to determine the ongoing suitability of home education. If at any point the local authority considers that home education is no longer suitable, it must name a setting for the child to attend and ensure that the special education provision specified in the Education Health Care Plan is available. The Elective Home Education Adviser will notify the SEN caseworker that the education is unsuitable so that the SEN caseworker can arrange a review to ensure the Education Health Care Plan is up to date and reflects current need. The SEN caseworker will consult with settings using the Education Health Care Plan and then name an appropriate setting to meet need in Section I.
Annual reviews will continue for children who are Elective Home Education whilst the Education Health Care Plan is maintained. If parents/carers wish to change to a school provision, the parents/carers can call a statutory review which is their right to do at any point in the year. They should contact their SEN caseworker to enquire about this process. This will involve the SEN caseworker consulting with settings and naming an appropriate setting to meet need in Section I.
If a parent/carer feels their child needs an Education Health Care Plan, they may contact their Elective Home Education Adviser regarding this.
Further information about Elective Home Education for children with an Education Health Care Plan is available in the Department of Education Guidance for local authorities and the SEN Code of Practice, which has a chapter on home education.
Looked after children and Elective Home Education
The Department of Education's Promoting the education of looked-after and previously looked-after children statutory guidance makes clear that the Virtual School Head Teacher is the educational advocate for looked after children, just as parents are to other children. Looked after children cannot be Elective Home Educated without our agreement, via the Virtual School head teacher, as Corporate Parent for that child.
Flexi-schooling
The Elective Home Education: departmental guidance for local authorities states that ‘although most children educated at home have all the provision made at home, or alternatively partly at home and partly in other ways such as attendance at privately-run part-time tuition settings, it is not essential that this be so. Some children who are educated at home most of the time are also registered at school and attend school for part of the week - perhaps one day a week. The purpose of this is usually to ensure the provision in specific subjects is satisfactory, although it can also help in other ways such as socialisation. If a child is of compulsory school age, he or she must be receiving, overall, full-time education even if components of it are part-time.
Schools are not obliged to accept such arrangements if requested by parents. If they do, then time spent by children being educated at home should be authorised as absence in the usual way and marked in attendance registers accordingly. It is not appropriate to mark this time as ‘approved off-site activity’ as the school has no supervisory role in the child’s education at such times and also has no responsibility for the welfare of the child while he or she is at home. The department does not propose to institute a new attendance code specific to flexi-schooling. Some schools have expressed concern that such absence may have a detrimental effect for the purpose of Ofsted inspection, but this is not the case; schools with significant flexi-schooling numbers have had good outcomes from Ofsted inspections. Schools which have flexi-schooled pupils should be ready to discuss with Ofsted inspectors the arrangements they have in place to deal with the requirements caused by such pupils. Schools are held to account through inspection for the performance of pupils, and that will include any who attend the school as part of a programme of flexi-schooling.
On some occasions, a parent/carer may wish to request flexi-schooling in order for their child to receive a particular therapy or attend a particular activity. Again, this will be at the discretion of the head teacher and parents/carers must be advised to ensure the activity is not running as an unregistered school (see below) and may choose to seek advice from their Elective Home Education Adviser.
Another form of provision available to home educated children aged 14 to 16 is part-time attendance at further education colleges, sixth form colleges and 16 to 19 academies or free schools. Again, this is normally to help with specific subjects and/or socialisation. When children who are educated at home attend such college settings part-time then the provision made will be taken into account by the Elective Home Education Advisers in deciding whether the education provided as a whole for the child meets the s.7 requirement. Please see our Flexi-Schooling Guidance for further information.
Off-rolling
Schools should not seek to persuade parents/carers to Elective Home Educate their child as a way of avoiding an exclusion or because their child has poor attendance or for any other reason. The practice of ‘off-rolling’ children through pressure on parents/carers to withdraw them from roll and register as Elective Home Education will be looked into by Education and Skills and may be reported to Ofsted.
Unregistered settings
The Department of Education Guidance 2019 recognises that we may encounter children who are said to be educated at home but in practice spend large amounts of time at various types of unregistered settings. These are distinct from the part-time settings mentioned previously which are genuinely supplementary to home education; the unregistered settings normally provide most if not all the education received by the child.
The Department of Education works with Ofsted and we to have them shut down whenever they are found and, where necessary or appropriate, to bring prosecutions. If investigations into home education of children suggest the existence of an unregistered independent school, we will inform the Department of Education of the relevant information. It is not illegal for parents to send their children to such settings simply because the setting itself is operating unlawfully; but such a setting may not be meeting the educational standards required of registered Independent Schools and so by sending the child there, a parent may be failing to ensure the child is receiving a suitable education. We will consider whether the education received by the child taken as a whole, at the setting and at home, is suitable, and take action as required. We may also need to consider whether any safeguarding issues arise from the child’s attendance at the setting if it is not safe (Elective Home Education: departmental guidance for local authorities).
How to contact us
For general information about Elective Home Education contact our Elective Home Education Advisors.
