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Is your family ready for the Children Not in School register?

Answer six quick questions about how you home educate. We will tell you, honestly, where you stand, and exactly what to do next. Nothing you enter is saved unless you choose to leave your email at the end.

What is the Children Not in School register?

The children not in school register is a new duty created by the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026. It requires every Local Authority in England and Wales to keep a register of children who are not attending school, home educated children included. If you already home educate, or you are thinking about it, this is the thing everyone keeps mentioning without quite explaining.

Here is the part worth repeating until it sinks in. The register is not live. The Act gives government the power to switch it on, but the actual start date is set later, through separate regulations, not by the Act itself. So if you are asking do I need to register my home educated child right now, the honest answer is no, not yet, and nobody can tell you the exact week that will change.

That does not mean ignore it. A home education register England wide is coming, and the families who cope best with change are usually the ones who were already halfway ready. This checker exists so you know exactly where halfway is for you, in two minutes, without reading a policy document first.

What will the Local Authority ask for?

Nobody outside government has the finished form yet, but the shape is predictable. Expect to be asked for your child's name, date of birth and address, who is responsible for their education, whether they have attended school before, and roughly how their week is structured. If a tutor or tuition centre is involved, expect a question about that too.

What records actually help

You do not need a filing cabinet. A simple weekly note of what your child did, photos of finished work, and anything a tutor or class sends you is enough for most families. The test is not "is this impressive," it is "could I hand this to someone with two minutes' notice and not panic." Start there, and the rest tends to follow on its own.

Families who came through the deregistration process already know the feeling of being asked to explain themselves at short notice. The register formalises that, but it does not invent it. Good records have always been the thing that turns an anxious phone call into a five minute conversation.

Questions parents ask us about the register

No, not yet. The Children Not in School register was created by the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, but the register itself is not live. The government sets the actual start date later, through separate regulations, not through the Act itself. There is no deadline today.
It is a new duty on every Local Authority in England and Wales to keep a register of children who are not attending school, home educated children included. It comes from the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026.
The finished form has not been published, but the expected shape includes your child's name, date of birth and address, who is responsible for their education, whether they have attended school before, and roughly how their week is structured.
You do not need a filing cabinet. A simple weekly note of what your child did, photos of finished work, and anything a tutor or class sends you is enough for most families. The test is whether you could hand it over with two minutes' notice and not panic.