Who provides home education support in the UK?
Getting the right home education support contact in the UK is the whole point of this page. Email [email protected] for any app or general question. For legal advice, contact Education Otherwise. For safeguarding or mental health crisis, use the dedicated lines below.
You are not expected to know who handles what. Most people do not. This page is a quick triage so you can get to the right person without wasting time or worrying that you have asked the wrong one.
When should I email Willowfolio support?
[email protected] is for anything to do with your Willowfolio account and for general home education questions where you want a friendly, practical answer rather than a legal opinion.
This includes:
- App problems, bugs, or something not loading properly
- Account or login issues
- Questions about your data, exports, or backups
- Billing queries
- Feature requests (we read every one)
- General home education questions: "Where do I start?" "What does a typical week look like?" "Am I doing enough?"
A real person reads your email. We are not a legal service, but we know the home education landscape well enough to give you a sensible orientation and, if your question is one for someone else, to tell you so.
When should I contact Education Otherwise?
Education Otherwise is the UK's longest-running home education charity, with over 60 years of experience supporting families. They are the people to contact for anything legal or anything involving your local authority.
This includes:
- UK home education law (what you are and are not required to do)
- Deregistration support (the process of taking your child out of school)
- School attendance order advice (a formal order from the LA requiring your child to attend a named school)
- Local authority disputes, including hostile or overreaching council officers
- Understanding your rights when the LA writes to you or asks for a visit
Education Otherwise has deep authority on UK home education law. If you are dealing with a difficult council officer or an unexpected letter from your LA, they are the first call.
When should I contact HE-UK or IPSEA?
Two other organisations are worth knowing about, whether you call it home education, EHE, or homeschool.
HE-UK provides information and support on home education in the UK. They are a useful second source if you want a different perspective or if Education Otherwise's availability does not suit your timeline.
IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) specialises in SEND and EHCP cases (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, and Education, Health and Care Plans). If your child has an EHCP and you are home educating, or if you are trying to deregister a child with an EHCP from a special school, IPSEA is the specialist charity. They understand the legal framework around SEND provision outside school settings.
What crisis and safeguarding support is available?
If you have safeguarding concerns about a child, or if you or your child is in mental health crisis, do not wait. Use these resources.
NSPCC covers safeguarding concerns about any child. Visit their website for current contact options.
Samaritans provides confidential support for anyone struggling with their mental health, including parents. Available around the clock.
999 for immediate danger or a life-threatening emergency.
111 for urgent NHS care that is not a 999 emergency.
These are not home education organisations. They are here because home educating parents sometimes face crises where the right answer is not an email to a charity, it is immediate help. If you are in that place, use them.
What does choosing the right contact look like in practice?
Gemma, a single mum in a ground-floor flat in Hull, has two questions in the same week.
First, she wants to know whether Willowfolio can add a feature that lets her tag activities by location (park, kitchen, library). She emails [email protected] and gets a reply within a day confirming the feature is on the roadmap and thanking her for the suggestion. That is a Willowfolio question. Straightforward.
Second, she gets a letter from her local authority asking for "evidence of curriculum coverage" and requesting a home visit. Gemma is not sure what she is legally required to provide. She knows Willowfolio support can help her pull together her Council Report, but the legal question (what is she actually obliged to share, and can she decline the visit?) is not one for us.
She visits the Education Otherwise website and finds their guidance on LA visits and information requests. She learns that a home visit is not compulsory and that the LA cannot demand to see a curriculum. Armed with that, she writes a polite reply to the LA, attaches a summary of her daughter's recent learning pulled from Willowfolio and declines the home visit.
Two questions, two correct paths. Neither one was wasted.
If you are unsure who to contact, email us at [email protected] first. We will tell you honestly if your question is one for Education Otherwise or another charity, and point you in the right direction.