What is the Children Not in School register?
A statutory register that English local authorities are required to maintain, covering children of compulsory school age who live in the area and are not registered at a school in a way the Education Act 1996 already captures. Home-educated children are within its scope.
The register was introduced by the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2025, which places duties both on local authorities (to maintain the register) and on parents (to provide specified information about the child and the education being provided). Secondary regulations set out the detailed list of information.
The policy rationale is that the existing Section 436A duty (to identify children not receiving a suitable education) was being implemented unevenly across English local authorities, with some aware of most home-educated children in their area and some not. The register standardises what information LAs must hold and what they can ask parents to provide.
What information does the register hold?
The Act and the secondary regulations together specify the dataset. At this article's review date, the list of required fields includes: the child's name, date of birth and address; the parents' names and contact details; the name of any school previously attended; the form of education being provided (home education, alternative provision, not in education); and contact details for any educational provider used outside the home for more than a threshold number of hours per week.
Secondary regulations are being rolled out and the precise dataset has varied between consultation drafts and the final version in force. Before treating any list here as authoritative, check the relevant GOV.UK page for the Department for Education's current Children Not in School register guidance.
What the register does not collect is any detailed account of your educational approach, a curriculum document, assessments of the child or work samples. The register is a basic identification and contact record, not a provision assessment.
Is registration compulsory?
At this article's review date, yes for the parts of the Act in force. The Act creates a parental duty to provide the specified information when requested by the local authority. Secondary regulations set the procedure for the request and the response timeline.
This is the fastest-moving part of the law. What is in force at the date you are reading this may be different from what is in force at this article's review date. Concrete question to answer before taking action: "Is the relevant section of the 2025 Act currently in force for my situation?" The answer is on the GOV.UK Children Not in School register page and in Education Otherwise's current guidance. You can also contact Education Otherwise for the current position.
What are the consequences of non-registration?
At the present review date, non-compliance with a lawful information request under the Act can lead to the local authority issuing a penalty notice, and in a smaller number of cases can escalate to a Section 437 Notice to Satisfy or, in the gravest cases, a School Attendance Order.
The Act's penalties are civil, not criminal in the first instance. Parents who cannot comply (for example, because the request exceeds what the regulations require) should reply in writing explaining why, rather than not replying at all.
Non-registration on its own is not a safeguarding concern. The register is an information system; a safeguarding enquiry is a separate process under the Children Act 1989 (see the dedicated safeguarding articles in the related reading).
What has not changed?
Quite a lot, and this matters.
The Section 7 duty is unchanged. Parents still provide efficient full-time education suitable to the child's age, ability and aptitude, at school or otherwise. The 1996 Act still governs.
The deregistration process is unchanged. A written notification to the head teacher still removes the child from the school roll under the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006. No LA consent is required for the deregistration itself (except in the special-school-with-EHCP case already covered elsewhere).
The "suitable" test from Harrison and Harrison v Stevenson (1981) is unchanged. The register records who is being educated otherwise; it does not redefine what a suitable education looks like.
LAs still have no statutory power of entry. The register does not create one. A home visit remains optional and refusing one is not, on its own, evidence of unsuitable provision.
The register changes the information flow between parents and local authorities. It does not change the legal frame within which home education happens.
A realistic first interaction with the register
A family we will call the Singhs received a letter from their English local authority in the second half of 2025, shortly after their Year 2 son had been deregistered. The letter cited the 2025 Act, explained that the council was gathering information for the statutory Children Not in School register and asked for a defined set of details: the child's full name, date of birth, address, current educational provision (home education) and any outside-home providers the child attended.
The Singhs replied within three weeks with a one-page note covering the specified fields and no more. They did not attach a curriculum, philosophy statement or samples of work; the register request did not ask for any. The LA acknowledged the reply and added the child to its register. No further action was taken; the Singhs went on with their ordinary home-education routine.
This is roughly what a register interaction should look like: limited in scope, specific in reply, not mixed up with the separate Section 436A / suitability conversation which continues on its own track.
This article is date-sensitive. Secondary regulations under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2025 are being rolled out in stages; check the GOV.UK Children Not in School register page and Education Otherwise's current guidance before acting. Reviewed quarterly.