Children Not in School statutory guidance

Page 1 of 7

Closes 3 Feb 2027

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Introduction

Following the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (‘the Act’), the Department for Education is seeking views on draft Children Not in School ("CNIS") statutory guidance and proposals for associated secondary legislation that will support implementation of the CNIS measures.

The CNIS measures, introduced by the Act, are intended to support local authorities to identify children who are not in school, particularly those who are not receiving a suitable education or are experiencing harm, and to take action where concerns arise. These include:

  1. compulsory CNIS registers in each local authority area, and accompanying duties on some parents and out-of-school education providers to give information for these registers
  2. a duty on local authorities to provide support to the parents of children on their registers
  3. changes to the School Attendance Order process to make it more efficient.
  4. a requirement whereby parents of children who are:
    • on child protection plans or were previously on child protection plans in the previous five years
    • subject to section 47 child protection enquiries
    • on the roll of a special school under local authority arrangements

will need local authority consent to educate otherwise than at school, including home education. Where a child who is currently on a child protection plan, has been subject to a plan within the previous five years, or is subject to a section 47 enquiry is already being home educated, the local authority will also be able to require the child to attend school where it considers this to be in the child’s best interests

  1. a requirement for local authorities to consider the home and other learning environments at the point of CNIS registration and when considering whether children should be required to attend school
  2. the piloting of mandatory meetings in selected local authorities, for parents wishing to withdraw their child from school for home education

The draft statutory guidance explains how local authorities, parents, schools, and out-of-school education providers in England should fulfil their responsibilities under the new framework. It also updates and incorporates the department’s existing Elective Home Education guidance, with the intention of providing a single source of guidance on home education and the CNIS measures. Bringing this guidance together into a single document is intended to make it easier for local authorities, parents, and other stakeholders to understand and navigate the framework by reducing the need to refer to multiple guidance documents.

To complement the statutory guidance, the department has also published a draft summary guide that provides a concise overview of the CNIS measures and to help readers identify the sections of the full guidance most relevant to them. The summary guide is intended to support navigation of the statutory guidance and does not replace it. The department also intends to publish separate non-statutory guidance for out-of-school education providers before the provider duties come into force.

Alongside the guidance, some aspects of the new framework will be set out in secondary legislation. The secondary legislation will provide further legal detail on how the measures in the Act will operate, while the proposed guidance will explain how those measures should be implemented in practice for children not in school and their families.

This consultation seeks views on both the draft guidance and the proposed policy approaches that will inform the secondary legislation. Responses will help inform the final guidance and regulations before the guidance is issued and the regulations are made.

1. What is your name?
2. What is your email address?
3. Are you responding as an individual or on behalf of an organisation?
4. Would you like us to keep your responses confidential?

Would you like us to keep your responses confidential?

Confidentiality
Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal data, may be subject to publication or disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 2018, or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. If you want all, or any part, of a response to be treated as confidential please explain why you consider it to be confidential. If a request for disclosure of the information you have provided is received, your explanation about why you consider it confidential will be taken into account, but no assurance can be given that confidentiality can be maintained. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department.

Privacy
The personal data (name and address and any other identifying material) that you provide in response to this consultation is processed by the Department for Education as a data controller in accordance with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, and your personal information will only be used for the purposes of this consultation. The Department for Education relies upon the lawful basis of article 6 (1) (e) of the UK GDPR which allows us to process personal data when this is necessary for conducting consultations as part of our function. Your information will not be shared with third parties unless the law allows or requires it. Your responses, including any personal data, may be shared with a third party provider or other government department or organisation acting on behalf of the Department for Education under contract or an equivalent agreement for the purpose of analysis or summarising responses for us. Processing may use technology such as artificial intelligence to exclusively assist with analysis, summarisation or categorisation of responses, with appropriate safeguards set in place to ensure fairness, accuracy and security. Technology is not used for automatic decision-making that might affect individuals. An anonymised version or summary of responses may be published. The personal information will be retained for a period of 10 years following the closure of the consultation, after which it will be securely destroyed. See the Privacy information: members of the public for more details.

You can read more about what the Department for Education does when we ask for and hold your personal information in our personal information charter, which can be found here: Personal information charter - Department for Education - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)