Number of children being home-schooled in Wakefield rises
The number of children being home-schooled in Wakefield has risen above 1,000.
The figure has quadrupled in six years since the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic and has led to Wakefield Council losing out on £8m of government education funding.
A report said the number of elective home education (EHE) cases within the district as of April 15 this year was 1,339.
The number of cases at the end of the 2024/25 academic year (July 31, 2025) was 1037, compared to 846 the previous year and 317 in 2019/20.
The figure is in line with a national trend which saw the number of parents choosing to home-educate their children rise sharply after the pandemic.
The report said:
“The number of families electing to home educate their children continues to grow at a rapid rate.
“This is not a unique situation for the Wakefield district as neighbouring local authorities are also facing the same high numbers of home-educated pupils across their districts.”
The most common reason given by families for their decision to home-educate was given as “anxiety”, while “philosophical choice” also ranked highly.
The document said some families had a “deep mistrust” of schools, academies and professional agencies and would not meet with them to discuss their children.
It said: “This was often the result of a school or a professional reporting them to social services and/or generating a safeguarding enquiry or concern.
“When schools/academies challenge families about their child’s poor attendance, some families choose EHE as a way of avoiding the school approach and enabling a quick removal of a pupil from school education.
“Reasons for deciding to home educate included a lack of support from the school, inflexibility of the school system, concern that children were not safe in school.
“Where families had made sacrifices to home educate, they generally felt it was worth it because their children were happier, healthier and more confident.”
Common themes said to be contributing to the rise in EFE included “strict and punitive school behaviour policies” and “unmet needs” around SEND provision and mental health.”
The report added: “Families felt forced into home education; it was not a choice but rather the only option left.”
The council’s children and young people scrutiny committee set up a working group to carry out a review after the EFE caseload rose to 789 in February 2024.
The report was jointly compiled by working group members and Wakefield’s Integrated Education Partnership, which includes senior council officers, local headteachers and academy chief executives.
It said schools were concerned about a “significant loss of resource” coming into the district via the age weighted pupil unit (AWPU).
A significant portion of the funding councils get for schools comes from AWPU, which is made available for every young person who is registered on a school or academy roll.
Figures contained in the report said, as of March this year, secondary schools in the district had missed out on £6.4m as EFE cases reached 996.
The figure for primary schools was £1.6m due to 340 youngsters being home-schooled.
The report explained: “This is funding that is lost for a pupil year on year, and it also presents challenges for officers to sustain staffing establishments and resource services because of depleted and uncertain funding streams.
“If this money was to remain in the local authority, more support could be given to home-educated pupils.”
Parents can choose to provide their child’s education outside of the school system under the Education Act 1996.
They are then wholly responsible for the approach, structure, content and cost of all education provision to ensure they provide a “suitable and efficient” education.
However, there is no legal definition of “suitable” education and no official definition of how many hours per day a full-time education takes.
Local authorities have a duty to enquire about a child’s education at least once a year if they are of compulsory school age and to intervene if there are concerns about a child’s welfare.
The report, which contains 26 recommendations calling for a “clear, emphatic and child-centred approach” to home-schooling, is to be considered by committee members at a meeting on Thursday (April 30).