If you home educate, you may have seen worried messages about a new law and the future of home education. We want to start with the most important thing, said plainly and calmly.
Nothing changes for your family overnight. Home education remains fully lawful. The Act exists, but the parts that affect home-educating families are not switched on yet.
We run weekly farm sessions for around 99% home-educating families, so this matters to us too. Here is what we understand, in ordinary language, with no scare tactics and no spin.
What has actually happened
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (citation 2026 c. 21) received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. Royal Assent means it has become law on the statute book.
But a law existing is not the same as a law being in force. The parts that deal with children not in school and home education (Part 2 of the Act) are not in force yet. They wait on what are called commencement regulations and on statutory guidance, the practical rulebook that tells councils and families how it all works in real life.
That rollout is anticipated later, but no firm date has been confirmed. So when you read alarming posts saying everything has changed, the honest answer right now is: not yet, and the detail is still being written.
The three changes that will matter once it is switched on
When Part 2 is commenced, three things are set to change.
A register in every area. Every local authority will have to keep a statutory Children Not in School register. The idea is that councils hold a list of children in their area who are not at a registered school.
A new information duty for parents. This is the change most likely to touch ordinary home-educating families. Parents will be expected to give their council information about the education they provide and the providers they use. The exact detail of what must be reported, and how often, will sit in the regulations and guidance that are still to come.
A narrow consent rule for a small group. This is the part most often misunderstood, so read it carefully. For most families, you will not have to ask permission to home educate. The Act introduces a council-consent requirement to withdraw a child to home educate that applies only to a narrow group:
- a child at a special school who was placed there by the council
- a child who is the subject of a section 47 child-protection enquiry
- a child on a child-protection plan now, or who has been within the past five years
If your child is not in one of those situations, this consent rule does not apply to you. It is not a general ask permission to home educate rule for everyone.
And if a council does refuse consent for a family in that narrow group, the parents can ask the government (the Secretary of State) to review the decision.
What stays the same
Home education is not being removed. It remains a lawful choice for families. The principle that parents are responsible for their child’s education has not been swept away by this Act. What is changing is the reporting and oversight around it, not your right to do it.
The concerns being raised (this is commentary, not the law)
Home-education organisations such as Education Otherwise have raised genuine worries. We pass these on so you have the full picture, but we want to be clear: these are concerns raised by home-education organisations, not the words of the Act itself.
Those concerns include the data-protection burden on families, the possibility that some providers might withdraw services rather than be named on a register, the difficulty of reporting each parent’s teaching time, and particular worries for families educating children with SEND.
These are reasonable points to follow as the guidance is written. They are not, at this stage, settled fact about how the rules will work.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Where to get trustworthy information
When you want to check something for yourself, go to the primary sources rather than social media:
- the Act itself on legislation.gov.uk
- the gov.uk guidance for parents
- the House of Commons Library briefing, which summarises the law in plain terms
- Education Otherwise, for the home-education sector’s perspective
Our promise to you
We are a small community farm-education project, not a political organisation, and we are not here to tell you what to think. Our job is to keep our families informed with what is true and what is still uncertain.
When the commencement regulations and statutory guidance are published, we will read them and share a plain update with our families. In the meantime, the woods, the animals and the garden carry on exactly as they are.
If you would like to talk it through, or you are weighing up home education and want to see what a real farm session looks like, we are always happy to hear from you. Visit our contact page, explore how we support home-educating families, or book a trial and come and meet us in person.