Elective Home Education

Elective Home Education (EHE) is when parents choose to educate their child at home instead of sending them to school. Successful home education requires commitment and understanding.

If you are unsure about home education, consider all alternatives before making a decision.

Contact our ‘Elective Home Education’ team for more information.

Digital illustration of boy with guitar, books, tennis racket, magnifying glass, calculator around

Thinking about home educating?

Make sure you know your rights and responsibilities before choosing Elective Home Education (EHE) to make the best choice for your child. If your child is enrolled in a school, we advise meeting with the school to discuss if EHE is suitable before withdrawing them.

As a parent or carer, you—not the state—are responsible for your child’s education if they are of compulsory school age. If you choose home education, you assume full responsibility, including costs like resources and exam fees.

If you have concerns about the school system, talk to the school first. If unresolved, contact the Education Welfare Service at the council by emailing [email protected] or calling 01472 326291. Discuss all options if you believe your child’s current school is unsuitable.

For children in Years 10 or 11, consider carefully before withdrawing them as exams approach. Contact the Education Welfare Service for advice if you feel stuck.

Schools must not pressure you into home education; this ‘off-rolling’ practice is unacceptable. Report any such pressure to the Education Welfare Service.

Home education works best when it’s a considered choice that meets your child’s needs. There is no specific legislation on home education, but Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 requires parents to ensure their child receives efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, ability, and special needs, either at school or otherwise.

Making the decision

There are many things you will have considered when thinking about home educating your child. We recommend you consider the following points:

Why: Why are you thinking of educating your child at home? Have you considered other alternatives?
Child voice: What does your child think about the idea? Do they know the expectations?
Time and resources: Do you have the time, resources and ability to teach your child properly?
Environment: Is your home suitable for undertaking teaching and learning, in terms of noise, space and general environment?
Support: What support do you as parents have from others? What if you were unable, due to illness, to teach your child for a period?
Wider opportunities: Can you provide social experiences, access to cultural experiences and physical exercise, to help your child develop?
Future plans: Do you envisage educating your child at home for the whole of their time of compulsory school age, or only temporarily? What are your long-term intentions for the education of your child?
Employability: Have you considered your child’s aspirations? What qualifications will they need? How will they achieve these?

If you have considered the above and want to know the next steps, head to the FAQ.

Currently home educating

The Department for Education has created an Elective home education: guide for parents which details the rights and responsibilities around educating your child at home. It is important to understand what your responsibilities are, and the responsibilities of the Local Authority.

North East Lincolnshire Council advise you conduct thorough research to make informed decisions about electively home educating your child. While social media can provide some insights, it should not be your sole source of information. Please explore a variety of resources to ensure a comprehensive understanding.

NELC has a statutory obligation (under s.436A of the Education Act 1996) to arrange, as far as possible, for the identification of children receiving home education in order to assess the suitability of the provided education. We prefer to do this in the form of a home visit (please see ‘what happens at a home visit’) although we are happy to explore alternative methods to assess the suitability, such as a TEAMS call or you may provide a report. As parents you are under no legal obligation to respond, but if you do not, NELC is entitled to conclude from the absence of any response that it appears that your child is not receiving a suitable education. If you do not do enough to satisfy the local authority about the education being provided at home, it may have no option but to conclude that the education does not meet the s.7 (of the Education Act) requirement.

Please notify us on [email protected] of any change of address, phone number or email. Ongoing advice and support may also be accessed through such cooperation.

Children with SEND

Your right to educate your child at home is the same if your child has special educational needs or a disability (SEND) or an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). For children at a special school arranged by the local authority, you need their permission before removing your child from the register.

The EHCP should specify required special educational provision and note if you’ve made your own arrangements under section 7 of the Education Act 1996.

If your child has an EHCP, the local authority continues to review the EHCP annually, and will liaise with the Elective Home Education team to ensure suitability of education If you think your home-educated child has special needs, you can contact [email protected] or visit NELC SEND Local Offer for further information.

Keeping EHE children safe

The council has a general duty to make sure all children are safe under section 175 of the Education Act 2002. This applies to children who are being educated at home, just as it does to children attending school. Any professional that is worried about a child will follow North East Lincolnshire Safeguarding procedures to report their concerns which can be found at North East Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership.

We will also conduct an elective home education visit. Typically, you will receive a letter with your appointment details and options to reschedule or request an alternative assessment, such as a TEAMS call or a report.

On the appointment day, an EHE Officer (a qualified teacher) will visit, introduce themselves, and discuss whether your child is receiving suitable full-time education. Meetings are informal, last 30–45 minutes, and focus on making you and your child comfortable. Your child is encouraged but not required to join the discussion.

The conversation covers topics like:

Reasons for home education
Current educational activities
Special educational needs (SEN)
Wellbeing and activities
Resources and materials
Progress
Life skills
Child’s views
Future plans

The visit aims to assess the education provided and offer advice and useful contacts. You can ask questions anytime; follow-up answers will be provided if needed.

If the suitability of the education cannot be determined during the visit, you’ll receive an update within 5 days (unless delayed by other agencies) outlining our findings and next steps.

Frequently Asked Questions

If your child has never attended school, inform North East Lincolnshire Council to access any available advice support.

If your child is currently in school, notify the school in writing of your decision, as they must inform the local authority and note home education as the reason. These steps apply to children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan in mainstream settings.

For children at a special school arranged by the local authority, you need their permission before removing your child from the register.

Consent is also required if your child attends a school due to a School Attendance Order; this order must be revoked first.

You are responsible for ensuring your child receives a suitable full-time education during compulsory school age. If you cannot provide appropriate home education, contact the local authority promptly to arrange a school place.

A ‘suitable’ education should:

be age appropriate
take into account your child’s level of ability
stretch your child so they can make progress
take account of any specific aptitudes (for example if a child is very good at mathematics, it might focus more on that than some other subjects)
take into account any special needs or abilities
not directly conflict with the Fundamental British Values as defined in government guidance
ensure mathematics and English are covered
encourage your child to have friendship groups and time to mix with children of their own age

As parents who educate at home you do not have to do any of the following:

work towards getting your child a qualification
have the place where your child is being educated equipped to any particular standard
teach the National Curriculum
provide a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum
make detailed lesson plans in advance
give formal lessons
mark work done by your child
formally assess their progress, or set out development plans
match school-based standards

Many home-educating families do some of these by choice so that it is easier to show that the education being provided is suitable, but this is your decision to make.

Once the local authority is satisfied that your child is receiving a suitable education, we will contact you annually to review the progress your child has made. You are welcome to contact us at any point, if you have a change of circumstances or require any information, advice or guidance.

If we don’t have sufficient information about the home education being provided and it appears that your child is not receiving a suitable education at home, we will serve a notice (known as a s.437(1) notice) asking you to show your child is getting an appropriate education.

You have 15 days to respond with any evidence. We will review your response and other information to decide if your child’s education meets legal requirements under s.7.

If we don’t receive a response, NELC would conclude that your child is not receiving a suitable education, then NELC has a legal obligation to serve on you as parents a School Attendance Order (SAO). This will name a specific school and require you to register your child at that school.

If a SAO is issued it must be complied with, and failure to do so is a criminal offence. If you comply with it and send your child to the school named in the order you can still seek to have your child attend another school. This would be done by requesting a place at that other school; and if that is available, asking the local authority to vary the order and if that request is agreed, sending your child to that school.

Alternatively, you can seek to have the order revoked by presenting evidence to the local authority that satisfactory arrangements have been made for suitable education to be provided at home, so that your child need not attend any school. If the local authority refuses to revoke the order, you can choose to refer the matter to the Secretary of State to settle the dispute by contacting the Department for Education.

Home-educating parents are not required to:

have a timetable
have set hours during which education will take place
follow school hours, days or terms

Home education doesn’t need to follow school hours, but tracking your child’s learning time is useful. Parents and carers should be able to show how much time their child spends on education. If education does not take up a significant part of the child’s life (apart from holidays), it may not satisfy the s.7 requirement.

There is no definition of this in law. However, it can be interpreted as meaning education which ‘achieves what it intends to achieve’. In schools, this can be demonstrated where teachers have lesson plans and identify what they intend the young person to learn from any given activity. This can then be assessed to determine that this learning has been achieved. In Elective Home Education, your child could demonstrate this through progress made over time in a variety of areas.

You are responsible for making sure that your child is properly educated between the ages of 5 to 16 years old. This does not have to take place through attendance at school. Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 says:

The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause them to receive efficient full-time education suitable –

(a) to their age, ability and aptitude, and

(b) to any special educational needs they may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

This means that if you choose to educate your child outside of a mainstream school through Elective Home Education you are still meeting your legal requirements as a parent or carer.

North East Lincolnshire Council must ensure all children receive a suitable education (s.436A, Education Act 1996). The council monitors school attendance and engages with parents who home educate to confirm appropriate, full-time learning is provided.

The Officer is there to offer advice and support if you feel you need it. They will agree with you a reasonable timescale for you to show that education is in place. This doesn’t mean that there can be a long break between the end of schooling and good education at home. Once the Officer and the council are satisfied that your child is receiving a suitable education, they will want to update their records every year, through an annual review.

If concerns about your child’s education arise, the Officer will work with you to resolve them. Ongoing issues may result in a s.437(1) notice, requiring you to provide additional proof of suitable, efficient, full-time home education. You have at least 15 days to respond.

If you change your mind and want to return your child to school, you will have to make an application in the usual way through the council’s process for in-year admissions.

For more information, please call 01472 326291 or apply for a school place.

Children who are educated at home sometimes attend different settings; if you want your child to attend a school part-time, consult the school, though it is not obliged to agree.

Groups of parents/carers sometimes collaborate for group education. If this group provides full-time education to five or more school-age children, or to one child with an EHC Plan, it may need to register as an independent school. For guidance, visit the OFSTED website at Independent school registration at GOV.UK .

If your child participates in these arrangements, inform the EHE officer and provide details about your child’s education to help assess its suitability.

Safeguarding

You may choose to access home education groups locally or to employ other people to educate your child; however, you continue to be responsible for the education provided and for keeping your child safe. This means you are responsible for making sure that anyone you get to help you provide home education is suitable to work with children. There is further information regarding this. Appropriate references, and recent Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) disclosure certificate will help you do this.

Whilst there is no prescribed list of what needs to be included in a report, it does need to detail an efficient full-time education which is suitable:

(a) to their age, ability and aptitude, and

(b) to any special educational needs they may have

NELC has an established template (Word, 63KB) , which you may like to use to help structure your report.

The EHE team welcomes the use of generative AI tools for the creation of Home Education reports, both from parents and from private/paid tutors. In accordance with good practice surrounding the use of AI, we would encourage parents to read, understand and have full oversight of any information produced by an AI tool before submitting it to the Elective Home Education team. The Elective Home Education team will always remain professionally curious when processing all reports, AI generated or otherwise. Should we require clarification on any aspect of a submitted report, we will query this directly. Please remember that any submitted report should be an accurate and true reflection of what is happening for your child at the time of submission.

North East Lincolnshire Council has an understanding of, and is sensitive to, the distinct ethos and needs of children in specific faith communities and can take into account the impact that faith has on the home education priorities. However, faith should not in any way stop your child from receiving a suitable full-time education, and this will remain our main focus. It will be helpful if you can explain how faith considerations have affected the content of the home education (if this is the case). There is no legal requirement for home education to include any element of teaching about religion or faith.

North East Lincolnshire Council has an understanding of and is sensitive to, the distinct ethos and needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families. If you wish to educate your children at home, then the council’s policies and procedures remain the same.

Resources and extra guidance for EHE

Whilst your child may not be educated in a school, it is important to be aware that they are still able to access many services to ensure they are supported.

Useful contacts (PDF, 129KB) .

The above document also contains links to some educational websites, which you may find useful.

Parents are responsible for registering their child for exams as well as paying the associated costs. Exam places are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Details about providers, is available on the JCQ website.

The deadline for Summer GCSE/IGCSE exam entry is usually the January before the following Summer. Please check with the provider you wish your child to sit exams at.

Locally, for examinations at Grimsby Institute, please contact them on 01472 311243 or [email protected] Grimsby Institute can arrange visits for parents/students prior to exams so the students feel more comfortable on the day. There is further information at External Exams – Grimsby Institute.

Franklin College offers GCSE Mathematics (Pearson) and GCSE English Language (AQA); enquiries can be made via [email protected]

Students from out of area may also access these exam centres therefore it is advised that you book on as early as possible.

Grimsby Institute have Community Learning Centres in Grimsby, Skegness and Immingham which flexibly deliver a variety of funded programmes including Maths, English and IT. They offer support to parents/guardians of home educated learners aged 14 & 15 years, subject to eligibility. Further information is available here. You can contact them on 01472 340946 or via email [email protected]

The Young Peoples Support Service is here to support you. Every home-educated young person receives a careers advisor when they reach Year 11. These advisors provide career guidance and general support, helping with any questions you have about your child’s next steps or discussing the different options available. They can assist with contacting local colleges and training providers and are also there if your plans change or you have new questions.

You can also visit Lincs2 , an online library of local post 16 opportunities. Your child can also make applications for post 16 provision through the Lincs2 platform, which the careers advisers are on hand to help with should your child need it.

School arranged work experience benefits from an exception to the regulations and byelaws that relate to child employment. This exception is outlined in law under The Education Act 1996 – s. 560 Work experience in last year of compulsory schooling. Schools that arrange work experience have extra responsibilities placed on them, such as ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025’, and they have DBS and additional safeguarding checks where necessary.

This means that school arranged work experience placements do not require a permit. The same exception does NOT apply to any amount of work experience arranged externally, even for electively home educated children. For all work experience arranged externally by parents or otherwise, you should seek a Child Employment Permit.

If you would like your child to take part in work experience, then you are responsible for arranging this and making sure that your child will be safe when they attend. NELC advise that work experience should be up to 10 days across Y10 and 11. Work experience should always be time limited. We would recommend your child keeps a diary of what they have learned on their work experience.

Any working child is subject to several legal restrictions. As for what constitutes as ‘work’, you should consider any placement where the child assists in the trade or business as work, even if unpaid. NELC has outlined this within their own webpage.

The only exceptions to this would be volunteering for a registered charity or non-for-profit business, or ‘job shadowing’ where the child is merely observing and not assisting in tasks in any capacity.

Non-compliance can attract a fine of £1000 and an employer must show an NELC officer their child employment license should they request.

Please refer to the Government guidance on Child Employment, which is also outlined on our website.

Restrictions on Child Employment

The Government website clearly states the restrictions placed upon child employment on top of requiring a permit – Child employment: Restrictions on child employment – GOV.UK

In summary:

It is the responsibility of parents or carers to provide evidence that their child is receiving a suitable full-time education. If the education is considered appropriate and full-time, the child may engage in employment outside of the scheduled educational provision, provided they continue to comply with all regulations concerning child employment, including permitted working hours and duties as specified in the child employment permit.

Children are NOT allowed to work in places like a factory or industrial site, or any other places that we have outlined in our local byelaws (Child entertainment and employment licences)
Children can only work a MAXIMUM of 12 hours a week

This includes:

A maximum of 2 hours on school days and Sundays
A maximum of 5 hours on Saturdays for 14 year olds, or 8 hours for 15-16 year olds
There are different hours allowed during school holidays, which are stated on the website

North East Lincolnshire Council provides public health and nursing services for all children in North East Lincolnshire. Your child has the same rights to access these services, and they will support you with advice around healthy lifestyles. The service can be contacted on 01472 323660 or email [email protected].

The school nursing service offers a text service on 07507331620 for young people in Year 7–13, including those home educated, to ask questions or request contact. This number is for young people only; parents should use the details above. To check if your child’s vaccinations are current, contact their GP. The GP can tell you which vaccinations are outstanding and help book an appointment. You can easily schedule through the NHS or School Vaccinations UK to find catch up clinic in your area.

One page guidance for schools
Educating your child at home – GOV.UK – DFE Elective Home Education guidance
Elective home education policy 2024-2025 – Please note this is currently in the process of being updated.

2026

Spring 26 EHE newsletter (PDF, 505KB) .

Feedback from parents

“The team put me completely at ease and offered lots of advice and support with no pressure.“
“We never felt pressured or judged, just really well supported. As a family, we can’t thank the EHE team enough.“
“Each time I contact the team I gained the information that I needed with no extra questions from the department.“
“Their support has been invaluable, and I truly appreciate the time and effort they took to assist us.”