Emily Bourne comments on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently progressing through the House of Lords
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently progressing through the House of Lords, poses a serious threat to the freedom of parents to educate their children at home.
What’s the problem with the bill?
The bill, which could be implemented as soon as 2026, is a clear attack on religious freedoms and parental rights which should concern everyone. But as Christians, we should be particularly concerned as it will be our families and churches who will be most impacted.
We have previously raised concerns about the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which, amongst other things, includes provisions for compulsory registration of children not in school and the introduction of digital IDs for minors. These measures would place every child under statutory oversight, regardless of any safeguarding concerns. This represents a significant shift in the relationship between families and the state, undermining the principle that parents are best placed to make decisions about their children’s education and welfare.
The bill risks legitimising state overreach into private family life. Local authorities could demand intrusive details about home education practices, including religious instruction and even church attendance. Families who fail to comply could face fines or imprisonment.
As Lord Wei stated in a recent debate:
“There is so much more to take issue with: from the lack of any appeal mechanism to the use of untrained officials to assess home education, to shocking real-world overreach by local authorities today, with families already documented under the current regime. Let us not forget the deeply intrusive personal data this Bill collects—names, health histories, special needs records—stored indefinitely, with no credible guarantee of security as we enter the age of quantum computing.”
Clause 32 of the bill seeks to amend the Education Act 1996 by inserting a new section 436C, detailing the contents of the proposed home education register. It goes so far as to have a catch-all, allowing a Local Authority to access any information it finds appropriate. It also may compel families to divulge private information about their child’s protected characteristics, including religious affiliation. The breadth of overreach is startling and almost certainly would be found to be incompatible with Articles 8 (right to family and privacy) and 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights if judicially reviewed.
Clauses 32 (amending the Education Act 1996 to insert a proposed section 436E) and 37 (amending the Education and Skills Act 2008 to substitute the meaning of an independent school pursuant to section 92 of the Act) are also audaciously undemocratic. They are seeking to regulate out-of-school settings as independent schools without allowing Parliament to know the thresholds for determining when an out-of-school setting transforms into an independent school. Those determinations would be made by the Department for Education by regulation after the bill becomes law. The result could be the closure of countless small privately run Christian education providers who either cannot, or will not, be regulated because of strict facilities requirements, mandatory RSE, government inspection, and cost.
More harm than help
The government’s push for increased regulation of home education is framed as a safeguarding measure. However, these proposals lack evidential support and may do more harm than good. The assumption that the state is a neutral influence ignores the reality that many Christian parents choose home education precisely because of .
The proposed guidance would empower local authorities to assess the ‘suitability’ of home education, including religious and moral content. This opens the door to ideological interference, where Christian beliefs could be deemed inappropriate or unsafe. Already, there are cases where parents have been pressured to affirm gender identities contrary to their faith, under threat of losing custody of their children.
A Christian freedoms issue
The Human Rights Act and international conventions affirm the right of parents to educate their children in line with their religious convictions. Yet, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill disregards these protections, prioritising state control over parental autonomy.
But the issues go deeper than that. The right to raise children in accordance with biblical principles is foundational to Christian parenting. Proverbs 22:6 instructs us to “Train up a child in the way he should go,” and the bill threatens to undermine this which makes it a Christian freedoms issue.
Some parents are actively making their voices heard with Christian home educating father, Joshua Kellard, writing an open letter published in The Critic which challenges the Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel D’Souza for her active campaigning in favour of the bill. He rightly warns that the bill will give the state “digital eyes” into every child’s life, regardless of whether safeguarding concerns exist, and criticises the lack of evidence supporting such sweeping interventions. Kellard’s letter powerfully calls on the Commissioner to reflect critically on her role and to set the record straight on home education and safeguarding:
“The changes proposed could not be more radical. They amount to a fundamental change to our national constitution, enshrining a new legal and social reality: the state, and not parents, will now be primarily responsible for the wellbeing and formation of children.”
Take action and stay informed
By taxing independent schools and seeking oversight of informal parent-led learning groups and cooperatives, the government is making it increasingly hard for parents to send their children to anything other than the local state school.
Fundamentally, this is about control over the next generation. Christian families must stand together, regardless of whether they home educate their own children or not, to defend these fundamental freedoms. All of us may need this freedom to take our children out of a state school, without fear of sanctions for doing so.
For analysis and updates on home education policy, HE Byte contains lots of essential information on this bill as well as home education more generally. We also have a page on our Education Website dedicated to home education where you can find key resources and links to other organisations offering support in this space.
On Saturday 25 April 2026, we will be hosting our third Education Revolution conference in London. Registration is open, so do book your early bird ticket now if you wish to join the momentum of faithful Christians who are wanting to develop bold education initiatives, along with those who are seeking to remain faithful in the education sphere. To get an idea of what to expect, you can read this report from the previous conference and watch the video.
Let us continue to pray, speak out, and act to protect the God-given rights of parents to disciple their children in truth and love.
