What's wrong with the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill? An overview of the key issues.

#ChildrensWellbeingBill #AreYouListeningNow #HomeEducation

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (CWSB) is being presented as a measure to improve child welfare and educational standards. However, it has raised serious concerns among parents, home educators, and civil liberties advocates, who argue that it represents a significant overreach by the Government. Critics fear that it undermines parental rights, restricts educational freedom, and expands state control over family life.

Read our March 2025 update on the bill's progress.

Key Issues with the bill

Erosion of parental rights

The bill introduces mandatory local authority registration for home-educated children, treating all parents as if they pose potential risks to their own children.
Parents will need government consent to withdraw their children from school in certain cases, infringing on their ability to choose the best educational path for their family.
A local authority will assess any request from a parent or carer to withdraw a child from school against a safeguarding framework. This would require local authorities to conduct risk assessments on ALL requests for withdrawal from school.
School Attendance Orders (SAOs) would allow authorities to force children into school, even if their home education is suitable and effective.

Threat to educational freedom

The bill imposes state-approved education standards on home educators, restricting alternative models like child-led learning and faith-based education.
Local authorities could gain the power to approve or reject a family's home education plan, shifting the decision-making authority away from parents.
Academies would be forced to follow the National Curriculum, limiting flexibility in teaching approaches and reducing innovation in education.
State-approved education standards will fail to accommodate the diverse needs of SEND children who thrive in flexible, tailored learning environments.

Government surveillance and data collection

The bill proposes consistent identifiers for children across multiple agencies, raising concerns about mass tracking and long-term data collection.
Increased data-sharing powers between social services, education authorities, and law enforcement risk wrongful intervention, unnecessary state intrusion, and privacy breaches.
Critics warn that this could normalise government monitoring of family life, setting a dangerous precedent for future overreach.

Criminalisation of parents

Parents who fail to comply with registration or attendance orders could face fines or even legal penalties, punishing those who choose alternative education.
Financial oversight and restrictions on private education providers may reduce the availability of independent schools, forcing families into state-mandated educational pathways.
The bill shifts the burden of proof onto parents, requiring them to justify their educational methods rather than trusting that families know what is best for their children.

Increased risk for vulnerable children

The bill increases the risk of data leaks, potentially exposing sensitive information to known abusers.
Families escaping domestic abuse will face additional barriers, as registration and monitoring create hurdles during an already difficult time.
Instead of protecting vulnerable children, the bill makes it harder for families to find safety and rebuild their lives.

A step too far?

While child protection and educational improvements are important, opponents argue that the CWSB takes a heavy-handed approach that prioritises state control over family autonomy. By expanding government oversight into home education, the bill risks:

Alienating responsible parents who provide a high-quality education at home.
Criminalising home education and creating unnecessary barriers for families.
Turning local authorities into enforcers rather than supporters of educational choice.

The bill represents an unprecedented intrusion into family life. While framed as a child protection measure, it expands state power at the expense of families, paving the way for a dangerous system of government surveillance, forced schooling, and punitive measures against parents.

What we demand:

✔ No compulsory home education register – Parents should not need state approval to educate their own children.

✔ Stop forced schooling – The government should support families, not threaten them with school attendance orders.

✔ Protect our privacy – Children’s data should not be collected and shared across agencies without consent.

✔ Defend educational choice – Parents should be free to decide how and where their child is educated.

✔ A government that listens to the voices of children and families.

✔ Parents stop being fined and prosecuted for protecting their children or taking an affordable holiday.

✔ A flexible curriculum not a one-size-fits-all education system that prioritises academic subjects over the arts, engineering, and life skills.

✔ Thorough scrutiny of the CWSB with the removal of the Children Not in School register & Unique Identifier policy.

✔ End school fines & VAT on independent schools.

✔ A full independent review of the schooling system, leading to meaningful reform and improvements in student well-being, drawing from successful international models like Finland.

Take action:

Write to your MP and express your concerns. You can find your MP here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
Spread the word on social media using the hashtags: #ChildrensWellbeingBill #AreYouListeningNow.
Attend rallies and protests to stand against government overreach in education.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill poses a fundamental threat to parental rights and educational freedom. Now is the time to speak out and ensure that families remain in control of their children's education, free from unnecessary government interference.