Sara Sharif: Councils to get power to check on home schooled children
Sara, 10, was "failed by the safeguarding system" before she was murdered by her father and stepmother in 2023
Councils will be able to visit children who are being educated at home as part of the Government's response to the death of Sara Sharif.
Sara, 10, was "failed by the safeguarding system" before she was murdered by her father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool in 2023, according to a review into her death.
She was taken out of school, a move which the review found was made "to keep Sara hidden from view in the last weeks of her life".
In response, the Government will demand local authorities "assess the child's home environment within 15 days" of them being listed on a register of children not in school, as part of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
"As part of this new requirement, local authorities will be empowered to visit the child in their home," education minister Baroness Smith of Malvern told the Lords.
"This responds directly to a recommendation from the review into the death of Sara Sharif which made clear the importance of setting a clear expectation that local authorities consider the suitability of a child's home environment as soon as possible after withdrawal from school.
"The most straightforward way for a local authority to meet this requirement is to visit the family in their home at the point of registration.
"For many families, a visit from their elective home education officer is already a routine part of an annual check-in."
Lady Smith had earlier said: "In reflecting on the findings of the Sara Sharif review, it is important to be clear that while home education was relevant to Sara's visibility to agencies, her death was caused by the actions of her father, not by her being home educated."
The new requirement was added to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill as part of a suite of late-stage Government amendments.
Lady Smith proposed giving councils the ability to refuse consent when a parent wants to remove their child from school, if their child has been on a protection plan in the previous five years.
But peers voted by 231 to 147, majority 84, to extend this proposal, so an authority has a right of refusal if a child has ever been subject to child protection inquires or care proceedings.
"If we just take Sara's case, there were two care orders applied for in her short life," Baroness Barran said.
The Conservative shadow education minister, who put forward the extended proposal, continued: "Neither were successful.
"It would also include children who'd ever been subject to child protection inquiries or being placed on the child protection register and, again, in Sara's case, she was only on a child protection plan at birth, so the Government's amendment would have made no difference in her case."
Lady Smith had earlier said child protection plans are "not entered into lightly".
She said the Government "felt that five years is a reasonable period in which to expect a family to show sustainable change".
Lady Smith added: "Extending the timeframe to consider all children previously subject to a child protection inquiry or plan, and including those who have been subject to proceedings or are currently receiving support from children's social care, risks discouraging families from agreeing to accept support and services early or may lead to them withdrawing from this support if consent from the local authority is required to home educate."
Sara was found dead at the family home in Woking, Surrey, in August 2023.
Sharif and Batool were jailed for life with minimum terms of 40 years and 33 years respectively in 2024, after being found guilty of her murder.
Sara's uncle, Faisal Malik, was found guilty of causing or allowing her death and jailed for 16 years.