The bill is not law yet, but the home education element is finalised. How long it takes to become law will be down to how long government take to finalise the rest of the bill, then get secondary legislation out, and the EHE guidance sorted (we can all have a say in that, so sign up to our newsletter to know when that comes out). We could be looking at months, a year, hopefully longer. If there’s an election or a miracle this could all go away.
NOTHING HAS CHANGED YET
But so far, the changes we know that are happening:
When you deregister from school and have social services investigations happening, or had child protection or similar in the last 5 years the LA will need to give consent to dereg. This means the child must stay in school until it is sorted. This could be dragged out by LAs. But we will of course have template letters and support available.
The LA can override what you think is in the best interests of the child! We will of course support anyone this happens to.
If you are already home ed or new to home ed (once this is law) you will be required to register with the LA, kids info including protected characteristics (which we feel is invasive and opens you up to prejudice), both parents info (hopefully not absent or dangerous parents), estimate of hours the education takes place with each parent as well as any other adult without your supervision (online school is likely to be included in that).
The LA can also demand anything else they want as part of the register.
You will have 15 days to register, we don’t know if LAs will contact existing, or set up an online system etc.
Failing to register will result in a preliminary notice being served (similar to a current s437(1), but with the extra allowance that the LA can ask for a home visit.
If you use an online school, or a religion focused provider they will be expected to provide info to the register. Specifics of this are yet to be declared.
Within 15 days of registering the LA must consider where the child lives. This could mean forcing a home visit, and we expect bad LAs to use this to be really invasive. But we will do everything we can to support you and provide template letters explaining why it isn’t in the child’s best interests etc.
Refusing (choosing to protect your child could be seen as refusing) could be used as a reason to serve a preliminary notice.
The new SAO process includes a preliminary notice, which can be served if SS become involved, or the education is deemed unsuitable, or if the LA decide it would be in the best interests of the child to attend school. They can also serve this notice if you have refused to register or respond to enquiries.
The LA can then proceed to name a school and ultimately an SAO if they are not satisfied the education is suitable or in the child’s best interests.
The setting in which the child lives and is educated must be considered, and the LA may request a home visit to see the child inside any of the homes in which they live. Refusing a visit can be used as a concern. Again, we will do everything to support you just like we do now.
At the moment many families let their LA to take them to court for not complying with an SAO when they know the education is suitable but live in a bad LA area, the risks are fairly low at the moment, this will change to heavier fines and even the risk of prison.
Up to 30% of LAs will take part in a pilot scheme, which will last at least 2 years.
This will mean upon dereg the child must stay in school until the LA has met with the parent and child, and the school if the parent wants them there.
This isn’t about consent, but is about the LA ensuring the family understands their own duty as well as that of the LA, we know the bad LAs will use this to scare families and mislead them.
Bad LAs will also use this to push info gathering and catching you off guard. We will be doing everything we can to support those families get through this smoothly. The key will be going into it knowing the law.
There is no timescale for when this meeting will be offered and the child must attend until the LA confirm with school that the meeting has happened.
There is more to the bill but these are the basics.
EHE guidance consultation allows us to voice our thoughts on what the government propose the rules are to be that the EHE must follow. Currently EHE guidance is a guideline, not a necessity, the new version will be a necessity the LA have to follow.
We expect the government to include many invasive, aggressive and open to harassment and misuse sections, and it is important we push back on these HARD.
That is the really brief and minimised info, for full info read the blog Home Educators Are F****d — Barring War, a General Election, or a Miracle
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