The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 seeks to strengthen the ability of local authorities to fulfil their existing education and safeguarding duties toward children in their areas who are not in school (including home educated children). In light of these forthcoming changes, this briefing paper sets out learning for safeguarding practitioners about the safeguarding responsibilities held by different statutory agencies.
Elective home education is not inherently a safeguarding risk, and many parents choose to educate their children at home thoughtfully and with positive outcomes. Additionally, for some children school may not feel like a protective environment for a variety of reasons, including factors relating to neurodiversity, mental health, social anxiety and bullying. The learning in this paper relates to circumstances where children have low school attendance, are electively home educated or missing education alongside additional vulnerabilities.