Response to the LA if they make contact less than a year since the last provision update

Local Authorities are advised by the government to make contact with home educating families at least annually. Where a child’s education has previously been deemed suitable, this contact should be brief and proportionate.

Please note:
If you provided very limited information during the first few weeks or month of home educating, it is not unreasonable for the Local Authority to make further enquiries once the education has had time to become established. However, once education is settled and has been deemed suitable, contact should normally be annual only, and any update should be brief (for example, a short written summary using our report writing guide).

Before replying to the LA we recommend you ensure you understand the process by reading our dealing with the LA section. 

We recommend reminding Local Authorities that repeated or persistent requests for information amount to an attempt to monitor home education, which they have no legal power to do.

If the Local Authority contacts you less than a year since the last time they accepted the education as suitable, you may wish to use the template below.

Template response (edit as needed)

In response to your letter/email/phone call/visit of [insert date], we wish to decline the meeting/call and your request for further information at this time.

We are well supported both locally and nationally and will contact your service should we require support in the future.

If contact was made by phone, include:
We respectfully request that all future correspondence be made in writing. Please remove our telephone number from your records.

We also wish to remind you of Section 5.1 of the Elective Home Education Guidance for Parents, which states:

“Your local authority has no formal powers or duty to monitor the provision of education at home.”

As our child’s home education was deemed suitable on [insert date], a further request for information less than a year later constitutes an attempt to monitor provision. This is not supported by legislation or guidance.

Accordingly, we do not expect further contact until [insert month/year – one year from the last assessment], in line with government guidance.