A lot of parents are confused by what the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (CWSB) will mean to them. This is hardly surprising given the mix of fear, misinformation and misunderstanding that proliferates when such bills are going through Parliament.
This situation is not helped by some local authorities mistakenly trying to put the Bill into practice now, as if it is legislation. To be very clear, the CWSB is not in force and it cannot and must not be used as if it is force. Local authorities should currently be following existing law and guidance until such time as the Bill’s provisions (with any amendments made) have come into force.
There are several steps to reach before provisions in a Bill are in force. Right now, the Bill is at committee stage in the House of Lords, it has yet to go to report stage or third reading. On 3rd July 2025, the House of Lords will hear Peers’ proposed amendments to the Bill which are relevant to home educating families and decide whether or not to agree them; there are many proposed which may, or may not, be taken on board.
“To be very clear, the CWSB is not in force and it cannot and must not be used as if it is force.”
If amendments are made to the Bill, the House of Commons has to consider those amendments. This can be in what is known as ‘ping pong’ as the Bill passes back and forth between the two houses until the exact wording is agreed. If the Houses do not agree the final form of words, the Bill ‘fails’ (cannot become law). In this unusual circumstance, the Parliament act 1949 could come into play. This allows a bill to go forward for Royal assent if certain conditions are met, most importantly, that at least a year has passed since the time in the first session that the Commons gave the Bill its second reading, in reality, this is a rare event, having happened only seven times since 1911.
Stages after agreement:
- Enactment: The Bill is formally passed by both Houses.
- Royal Assent: The King gives his approval (monarchs do not refuse to do so).
- Coming into force: This is when the law becomes legally binding. This can be immediately but more usually, sections come into force at different times and some sections never do. Sometimes, a ‘Commencement order’ is used to bring provisions into force by a set date.
To put that into simple form, the Bill is not yet in force and it could be some months before it is. For example, aspects of the Education and Skills Act 2008 are not in force yet. The most likely situation is that the DfE will need to put forward regulations and guidance prior to the provisions being in force.
What does it mean to home educating families?
The Bill may be changed before it is made into law and it could be some time before that happens. In addition, much of the Bill is what is known as ‘skeleton legislation’, that is, giving the bones of the law and leaving the ‘meat’ to regulation and guidance. At this stage, we can only guess whether certain aspects will change, but, if we take the position that it will not change, the following effects will be relevant to home educating families:
All home educating families
For the majority of home educating families, the main changes will be a requirement to register with the local authority (very few are not already known to their local authority and informally registered) and the requirement to provide certain information.
All home educating parents will be required to provide details of every individual or service provider involved in the child’s education and to update any changes to that information within 15 days. For many parents this will be a limited amount of information which should not change too frequently, for some it will be a mammoth task with numerous reportable changes. Education Otherwise has raised this issue with the DfE and is advised that regulations and guidance will clarify what data needs to be shared. It seems likely that it will be limited by type of provider and times of provision.
Parents will be required to provide information about their child including some sensitive information. However, the Bill states that such information must not be published in a form which identifies a child or parent. Parents will be aware of breaches of the Data Protection Act by local authorities and we have raised concerns about such possible breaches.
Parents will be required to state how much time each parent spends educating the child. Most parents will find differentiating between each parent’s input extremely difficult if not impossible, which may lead to it becoming apparent that this aspect is unworkable.
Parents will be entitled to ask the local authority for support, but that ‘support’ will be only whatever the authority sees fit to provide. This is unlikely to be financial support of any form.
Providers
Providers will have to report home educating families’ details to local authorities.
There are concerns that providers will withdraw services from home educated children in order to avoid incurring the additional administrative burden that this will create.
Parents subject to children Act 1989 s47 enquiry or to a Child Protection Plan.
The Bill allows local authorities to serve a notice under what is now the Education Act 1996 s437 (a notice to satisfy) and if believed necessary, to follow that with a School Attendance Order (SAO) if a child is subject to a Child Protection Plan (CPP) or being assessed under the Children Act 1989 s47 (assessment to decide if a plan is needed). This notice can be served regardless of how suitable or efficient the child’s education is if the local authority believes it to be in the child’s ‘best interests’ to attend school.
If, after serving a notice for a child being assessed under the Children Act 1989, the local authority ceases its assessment, it may not serve a SAO on the parent on the basis of the child’s ‘best interests’. If the SAO has already been served on the ‘best interests’ grounds only, it must be revoked.
All parents subject to a notice to satisfy
If a parent is subject to a notice to satisfy, the authority may ask to meet the child in the family home and, if such a request is refused, the authority must consider that refusal in its assessment of whether education is suitable.
All parents subject to a SAO
Penalties for failing to comply with a SAO will rise to include up to 51 weeks in prison and fines up to £2,500. In practice, it is very rare for a custodial sentence to be given.
Children with EHCPs or in Wales, IDPs
If a child has an EHCP or an IDP and is subject to a SAO, the parent will no longer have the right to ask the Secretary of State to revoke the SAO. It is of note that the Secretary of State has never revoked a SAO for a home educated child in any event.
Parents whose child attends a special school will be required to seek consent to remove the child from the school roll. This provision is already in regulations but will be in primary legislation.
“Much of the Bill is what is known as ‘skeleton legislation’, that is, giving the bones of the law and leaving the ‘meat’ to regulation and guidance”
How worried should parents be?
Parents are understandably worried about how the Bill will affect them and their children, should it become law. Right now, however, we do not know what aspects of the Bill will change before it becomes law. Regardless, for most parents, if it goes ahead as it is, it will only result in the requirement to provide data to local authorities which is not currently required. This may be inconvenient or impractical for some, it will remove some aspects of data privacy for families, but it should not materially affect the way that parents home educate, nor their right to do so.
For parents who are domestic abuse victims, subject to malicious referral to Children’s Social Care, the Bill will provide additional opportunity for perpetrators to use legal systems to further their abuse. It is hoped that the Government will recognise this and take steps to ameliorate the situation.
For parents whose children have special needs, the Bill does cause concerns, but it is important to note that this relates to the need to request consent to remove from the roll (which is already the practice through regulations) and if subject to Children Act 1989 assessment.
Parents should raise any concerns which they may have with the house of Lords, the media, their MPs or influential others, but base those concerns on the facts.
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