The decision to home educate a child should always be a genuinely free choice, but we know that many families opt for home education because they feel their child’s special educational needs (SEN) weren’t being met by their school, or because there isn’t a school suitable for their child.

If you are home educating your child because you felt their SEN weren’t being met in school, or you had no other choice, you can take action.

If your child does not have an EHC plan

Go on school visits to see which school you think would suit your child’s SEN and ask to speak with the SENCO. Check what the school’s SEN information report says (you should be able to find this on its website) to see what support it offers children with SEN.

A school must not refuse to admit your child with SEN because it does not feel able to cater for those needs. A mainstream school must also do all that it can to put in place the special educational provision your child's SEN requires.

If you are concerned that your child’s SEN will not be supported in their new setting, or that your child needs (or might need) more or different support than the school provides, you can request an EHC needs assessment. An EHC needs assessment is an investigation into a child’s education, health and care needs, what provision is required to meet them, and what outcomes are to be expected as a result of that provision. It is the gateway to an EHC plan, a legal document which carries important duties and rights.

You can request an EHC needs assessment at any time, including when your child is being home educated. You do not need to wait for them to be in school. You can use our template letter and resources to help you make your request.

You can read more about what you can do when looking for a new school for your child on our website.

If your child has an EHC plan

Tell your local authority (LA) that you no longer want to electively home educate your child and check when the next annual review is.

If the next annual review is a while away, ask for an early statutory review.

If you want them to go to a particular nursery, school or college, use the annual review process to ask for changes to be made to the EHC plan and for a setting (or different setting) to be named.

You have the right to request:

is named in your child’s EHC plan whenever the plan is in draft form (such as following an annual review where your LA made a decision to amend the plan). Once you have found a school or college you like, check online to see if it is one that you have the right to request.

You can also ask for an independent setting to be named.

The other option you have is to consider whether your child needs to be educated otherwise than in a school, but not as elective home education. Some families feel that no nursery, school or college would be appropriate for their child due to their SEN and the special educational provision they require. This is different to elective home education, which is meant to be a genuine free choice.

Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014 allows an LA to arrange for some or all special educational provision set out in Section F of the EHC plan to be made otherwise than in an early years, school, or post 16 setting if the LA agrees it would be inappropriate for provision to be made in such a setting.  This is sometimes called ‘EOTIS’.

If you feel no nursery, school or college would be appropriate for your child and do not want such a placement (or type of one) named in Section I, or that your child needs a part-time EOTIS package alongside some school attendance, please read our information about this, tell your LA, and ask it to amend the EHC plan.

If your LA:

  • refuses to name the setting you want in Section I
  • names a setting (or type) in Section I you do not agree with
  • names a setting when you think no setting should be named in Section I, and/or
  • issues an amended EHC plan and you don’t agree with its contents,

you can mediate and/or appeal this to the SEND Tribunal.