Our homeschooling programmes are taught online across the UK, with a timetable built around your child and specialist SEN tutors for children who need a more tailored approach. A programme can cover a few weeks of exam preparation or run for up to a year.
If your child attends a mainstream school in England, you don't need permission to take them out of school to educate them at home. You tell the school in writing that they will stop attending after a date you choose and will be educated otherwise than at school. Once that date has passed, the school must take their name off its admission register and let the council know.
Two situations work differently. If the council arranged a place at a special school, or a school attendance order is in force, the council has to agree before a child can come off the roll. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 will add new steps, including council registers of children not in school and wider consent rules for some families. Its home education sections aren't in force yet. We last checked the legal position on 8 October 2026.
In most cases, no. Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 makes parents responsible for their child's education, which can be provided "either by regular attendance at school or otherwise". Home education is one way of meeting that duty. Unless a school attendance order is in force, neither the school nor the council has to approve withdrawing a child from a mainstream school, and you don't have to give a reason. The same applies to children with an EHC plan at a mainstream school.
The council's agreement is needed in two situations, both explained further down.
Some other cases are simpler. A child who has never been registered at a school has nothing to deregister from, and at present you don't have to tell the council. For a child in Reception who hasn't reached compulsory school age, a slightly different rule applies, and the school removes them once it has no reason to expect them back. A child reaches compulsory school age on 31 December, 31 March or 31 August following their fifth birthday, whichever comes first. If the birthday falls on one of those dates, that's the day.
Everything here applies to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own systems, and some of the advice online is written for those rather than for England.
Home education means you take on the job of arranging your child's education and paying for it. That's different from EOTAS, or education otherwise than at school, where the council arranges and funds provision set out in an EHC plan. It's also different from the education a council must arrange for a child who can't attend school because of illness or other reasons. If you were hoping the council would provide or pay for teaching at home, deregistering won't achieve that. Talk to the council or an independent adviser before you send anything.
If the school has suggested home education, you don't have to agree. Government guidance says schools should not try to persuade parents to home educate as a way of avoiding an exclusion, or because a child has a poor attendance record. If you feel steered towards deregistration, it's fair to ask what support the school can offer first.
Often the decision follows months of anxiety or needs that school hasn't met. Home education works well for some of those children, but it isn't the only option. Our guide to emotionally based school avoidance covers the support schools can put in place. Asking for an EHC needs assessment can open up help that isn't otherwise available.
A few practical points are worth settling now.
These steps apply whether your child is at a state school, an academy or an independent school.
There's no official form, and the law doesn't require particular wording. What matters is that the school has it in writing that your child won't attend after a certain day and will be educated otherwise than at school. You can adapt this example.
[Your name]
[Your address]
[Date]
Dear [head teacher's name],
[Child's full name], date of birth [date], [year group]
I am writing to let you know that [child's first name] will no longer attend [school name] after [date]. From then on, I will be educating [him, her or them] at home, so [he, she or they] will be receiving education otherwise than at school.
Please remove [child's first name] from the school's admission register once that date has passed, under regulation 9(1)(f) of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.
I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing the date on which [child's first name]'s name has been removed.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name and signature]
Keep the letter short. You don't need to explain your reasons, share medical information or describe your plans. The school's job at this point is to update its register, and the council may ask about your plans separately. If you'd like to meet the school before your child leaves, you can say so, but a meeting isn't required.
Older templates online often refer to the 2006 pupil registration regulations, which were replaced in August 2024, so check that any letter you borrow refers to the 2024 regulations instead. This letter isn't enough on its own for a special school place arranged by the council, or when a school attendance order is in force, because the council has to agree first.
Once the date in your letter has passed, the school must remove your child's name from its admission register. For a mainstream pupil with no school attendance order, it can't refuse or delay because it disagrees with your decision. As GOV.UK puts it, "The school must accept if you're taking your child out completely."
The school then sends the council a short return with the child's name and address, your contact details and the reason for removal. Some councils ask schools to complete a form or offer the family a meeting. These are local arrangements rather than conditions in the regulations. In London, for example, Camden invites families to meet its home education adviser, and its website tells parents plainly, "You do not have to agree to the meeting."
If a school says it can't remove your child until the council has confirmed something, it's reasonable to point out that the regulations don't require that. The council's home education team should be able to help sort it out.
Someone from that team will usually be in touch after the school's return arrives. They may ask how you plan to educate your child, and some councils offer a visit or a meeting. You don't have to agree to a visit, although guidance says a refusal can sometimes justify the council starting the formal process described below. You aren't legally obliged to answer the council's questions either. But if a council receives no information at all, the guidance says it will normally be justified in concluding that the child doesn't appear to be receiving a suitable education. A short written outline of what and how they'll learn is usually the simplest way to respond.
The council can't approve or reject home education for a child who has left a mainstream school. If it appears to the council that a child isn't receiving a suitable education, it must serve a written notice asking you to show that they are. You get at least 15 days to respond. If you don't satisfy the council, and it thinks the child should attend school, it must then serve a school attendance order naming a school. You can later ask the council to revoke the order once suitable arrangements are in place, unless your child's EHC plan names a school or other institution, which is covered below. If the council refuses, you can refer the question to the Secretary of State for Education.
A child of compulsory school age who became a pupil at a special school under arrangements made by a council can't be taken off the register just because you've written to say you'll home educate. The council that arranged the place has to give its consent. If it refuses, the name can only come off for home education if the Secretary of State directs that it be deleted.
In practice, this usually applies to children whose EHC plan names a special school. Write to the council's SEN team asking for consent, let the school know what you're doing, and explain how you plan to meet your child's needs at home. Government guidance to councils says "this should not be a lengthy or complex process and consent must not be withheld unreasonably". The council should consider whether home education would meet the child's special educational needs. It should take into account the extra challenges of educating a child at home when their needs are significant enough for a special school place.
If the council says no, you can write to the Secretary of State, through the Department for Education, asking for that direction. The regulations don't set out a procedure, so independent advice helps at this stage. IPSEA gives free, independent legal advice and support on SEND, and your local SENDIASS can support you through the process. The home education charity Education Otherwise publishes a fact sheet on deregistering from a special school, with template letters for each step.
Two details are worth checking. If you arranged a special school place yourself, without the council, its consent isn't needed. And the regulations don't define "special school", so the term takes its meaning from the Education Act 1996. That covers special schools maintained by a council, special academies and non-maintained special schools. Independent special schools aren't included, even when the council arranged the place, and the 2026 Act will bring them in once its consent rules start. If your child's school is independent, ask the council or an adviser how the current rule applies before you rely on it.
A school attendance order requires a child to be registered at the school it names. While one is in force, the usual letter won't take your child off the roll, because the regulations rule out that route. Instead, ask the council in writing to revoke the order because you've arranged a suitable education otherwise than at school. The council must agree unless it thinks no satisfactory arrangements have been made. If it refuses, you can refer the question to the Secretary of State. Once the order has been revoked on that basis, the school removes the name.
There's one important exception. When a child's EHC plan names a school or other institution, that route to revocation doesn't apply, so the plan itself would usually need to change first. Talk to IPSEA or your SENDIASS before taking any steps.
An EHC plan doesn't create a need for permission on its own. A child with a plan at a mainstream school can be deregistered in the usual way, although the guidance encourages parents to talk to the council first whenever possible.
The plan stays in place after the child leaves school. The council must still review it at least once a year, and guidance describes the annual review as an opportunity to seek additional support or discuss alternatives to home education. What changes is who arranges the provision. As long as your own arrangements are suitable, the council no longer has to secure the special educational provision in the plan, and meeting those needs becomes your responsibility. Our article on home educating a child with SEN looks at that in more depth, and our guide to the EHCP annual review explains how reviews work.
The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 became law on 29 April 2026. Its home education sections set up council registers of children not in school, extend the need for council consent to more children and replace the school attendance order process. None of those changes is in force yet. Since April, ministers have only had the power to make the regulations these sections depend on, and no start date had been set when we checked on 8 October 2026. Other parts of the Act, including changes to free school meals, have already started, which is why you may see the Act described as in force.
Here's how the main changes compare with the rules that apply today.
For children who will need consent, the council will have to decide "without undue delay". It must refuse if it considers that regular attendance at school would be in the child's best interests, or that no suitable arrangements have been made for the child's education otherwise than at school. Otherwise it must agree, and parents will be able to refer a decision to the Secretary of State. Separately, the Act requires a pilot in no more than 30% of councils, where parents must meet the council before taking a child out of school. Tutors and other providers who teach a child outside school for more than a set amount of time may have to give the council information too.
There's no date yet. The Department for Education told parents in April 2026 that "the measures are not yet in force and implementation will not be immediate". In May, a minister said in a written answer that registers "will be implemented in England by the end of this Parliament". First, the government has said, there will be a consultation on draft statutory guidance and on what the regulations will contain. The regulations will then go to Parliament, and councils will get time to prepare. That consultation hadn't been published when we checked. The Act allows different parts to start on different dates, so the consent rules and the registers may not arrive together. Wales, which the Act also covers, will set its own timetable.
Until then, the current rules apply, including to families who deregister now. Children who are already home educated will be eligible for the registers when they start, although the details of how they're added are still to be set out. If children's social care is working with your family, it's sensible to talk your plans through with them, even though the consent rule for those children hasn't started.
From the day your child leaves the register, the duty in section 7 is yours to meet through home education. The law asks for "efficient full-time education" suitable to a child's "age, ability and aptitude" and to "any special educational needs he may have". Government guidance describes an efficient education as "one which achieves what it sets out to achieve". Put simply, the education should fit your child as they are now, take account of any SEN and actually do what you intend it to do.
The law doesn't define "suitable" or "full-time" in any detail. The guidance says home education doesn't need to copy school timetables. For comparison, it notes that state schools usually provide around four and a half to five hours of education a day, for about 190 days a year. It also recognises that learning at home often involves continual one-to-one contact and can happen outside school hours and terms. Councils will still want a sense of how many hours a week and weeks a year your child spends learning, so it's worth keeping track.
Much of the rest is up to you. You don't have to follow the national curriculum, teach particular subjects or keep school hours and terms. Nor do you need to enter your child for exams, hold a teaching qualification or employ tutors. Councils judge suitability case by case and shouldn't set rigid rules about how you teach.
They can still look for effective progress in areas such as literacy and numeracy, measured against your child's own ability. The guidance also expects a suitable education to prepare a child to take part fully in life in the UK. What you do need is an education you could describe and show if the council asked, and one that genuinely works for your child. In general, families meet the costs themselves, including books, courses, tutoring and exam entries.
A short settling-in period is common, especially after a hard time at school. The duty to provide a suitable education still starts as soon as your child leaves the roll, so it helps to have a simple plan ready rather than a detailed timetable.
Start with where your child is. What are they confident with, where are the gaps, and what has or hasn't worked so far? A child leaving school after months of anxiety may need a gentler start than one leaving to pursue a particular interest.
Then decide how learning will happen. Some families teach everything themselves. Others combine their own teaching with online courses, local home education groups, clubs and tutors for particular subjects. Plan for time with other children too, because the guidance sees socialisation as part of a suitable education. Free resources such as Oak National Academy's online lessons can fill gaps while you settle on an approach. Our article on choosing a homeschool curriculum works through the options by age.
Write the plan down. One page is enough to begin with, covering what your child will learn, the resources you'll use, roughly how a week will look and how you'll track progress. It gives you something to review after a few weeks and a ready answer when the council gets in touch. Keep samples of work as you go. If GCSEs are likely, find out early how private candidate entries work and which subjects you'll cover, because exam centres set their own arrangements and deadlines.
Plenty of parents home educate without paid help, and the law doesn't expect you to buy it. Support tends to be most useful in a few situations. A subject may be beyond what you can teach confidently, or exams may be getting close. SEN can call for specialist teaching, and work commitments can make a steady routine hard to keep.
This article explains the general rules rather than giving legal advice about any one family's situation. If something does go wrong, these are the people to ask.
For most families, deregistering takes a letter and a date rather than anyone's permission, and the exceptions are narrow enough to check before you start. The letter is the easy part. The bigger job is the education that follows, and that's where most of your planning time is best spent.
If you're working out how to cover your child's learning, whether that's one subject or a full timetable, tell us about your child and what you're looking for. We'll talk through whether a homeschooling programme would suit, or whether tutoring alongside school would work better if your child is staying where they are.
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