Briefing: Home education in England
DfE data from the autumn 2025 school census suggested that 126,000 children were in elective home education. This represented around 1.5% of children of school age. As this is a relatively new data collection, data quality is rapidly improving, which makes trends over time hard to estimate.
Under the Education Act 1996, parents and guardians, including those who choose to home-educate their children, are responsible for ensuring that the education provided is efficient, full time and suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have. They are not required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum and do not have to follow the national curriculum. Home-educating parents must be prepared to assume full financial responsibility, including the cost of any public examinations.
This briefing includes information regarding the current rules around home education, rights of parents and the introduction of new responsibilities for local authorities.
