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Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 applies to England and Wales:

Compulsory education
7: Duty of parents to secure education of children of compulsory school age

The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable—

a: to his age, ability and aptitude, and
b: to any special educational needs he may have,
either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

Home education is covered under "education otherwise", Section 7 and ensures that every parent has the right to choose not to send their child into the state schooling system.

At the end of 2006, section 4 of the Education and Inspections Act introduced the "Duty to identify children not receiving education", whereby section 436A was added to the 1996 Education Act.

Extract from the guidelines:

2.15 As outlined above, local authorities have general duties to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (section 175 Education Act 2002 in relation to their functions as a local authority and for other functions in sections 10 and 11 of the Children Act 2004).

These powers allow local authorities to insist on seeing children in order to enquire about their welfare where there are grounds for concern (sections 17 and 47 of the Children Act 1989). However, such powers do not bestow on local authorities the ability to see and question children subject to elective home education in order to establish whether they are receiving a suitable education.

https://www.educationotherwise.org/index.php/current-legal-status

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