Barnsley Council's plan to cut home education by 30% ruled unlawful

A local authority plan built around reducing the number of home educated children by a set percentage has been found unlawful, and the decision is worth understanding even if you live nowhere near the council involved.

The problem was not that the council contacted families. It was the target. Setting a numerical goal to move children back into school pre-decides the outcome of enquiries that are supposed to be made case by case, on the education actually being provided.

In practice this gives families a clear reference point. A local authority can ask whether a suitable education is being provided. It cannot treat home education as a problem to be reduced, imply that returning to school is the default, or apply pressure unrelated to the education itself.

If a letter feels like pressure rather than enquiry, the useful response is a written, factual reply describing your provision, plus a polite question asking which statutory duty the request is made under. Keeping everything in writing changes the tone of these conversations quickly.

None of this stops a council acting where there are genuine safeguarding concerns or where no education appears to be happening at all. It draws a line around blanket targets, which is exactly where the line belongs.