The number of children in EHE increased compared to the previous autumn term
Local authorities reported 111,700 children in elective home education on census day in autumn 2024. This includes children of compulsory school age (opens in a new tab) who are resident in the local authority and the local authority are aware of being electively home educated on census date. The rate of EHE was 1.4% of the population of comparable ages (based on ONS mid-year population estimates (opens in a new tab) for children aged 5 to 16 years).
In autumn 2024/25, EHE increased by an estimated 19,700 compared to the previous autumn term. However, EHE decreased by 6,200 compared to summer term 2023/24. The number of EHE children has increased each autumn since the start of the data collection and the seasonal decrease from the summer term is as expected as some EHE children obtain their school preference, and the cohort of previous year 11 children cease to be of compulsory school age.
As this is a relatively new data collection, which first started in autumn 2022 and became mandatory in autumn 2024, increases are likely to be in part due to improvements in data quality. Please see the Data Quality section for further information.
Mental health and philosophy or preference remained the most reported reasons for EHE
The table below provides the primary reason why a pupil was EHE. Of those reasons known or provided, the most reported in autumn 2024 were ‘mental health’ (14%) and ‘philosophical or preferential reasons’ (14%), followed by ‘lifestyle choice’ (9%).
Of the primary reasons given, more than 4 in 10 continued to be recorded under ‘unknown to the LA’, ‘other’, or ‘parent did not provide a reason’.
EHE by characteristic
The proportion of children in EHE varies by characteristics. The figures below relate to autumn 2024 but trends remain similar to previous years.
Sex - 51% of EHE children were reported as female and 48% of EHE children were reported as male (the rest were unknown). This compares to 49% of the overall school population as female and 51% male as at January 2024.
Year group – The number of EHE children increased as the expected year group increased, from 3% expected to be in year group 1 to 19% expected to be in year group 11. Over a third of EHE children were expected to be in either year groups 10 or 11.
Ethnicity - 64% of EHE were of White ethnicity, 5% were of Mixed ethnicity, 4% were of Asian ethnicity, 3% were of Black ethnicity and 2% other ethnicity. The remaining 22% had refused to provide their ethnicity or were unknown.
Special educational needs (SEN) *- 16% of EHE children had an additional requirement of SEN support, while 6% of EHE children had an education, health and care plan. This compares with 14% and 5% respectively for the overall school population.
Children in need * - 1% of EHE children were recorded as a child in need, while 0.5% were recorded as having a child protection plan and <0.5% were a looked after child. This compares with 3% children in need, 0.4% having a child protection plan and 0.7% looked after children amongst the overall child population.
*SEN provision and Child in need status was as known to the local authority as at the census day and therefore may exclude children who previously held these additional requirements and those for whom these requirements were not known.
EHE by local authority
The number and rate of elective home education varies across local authorities. Counts will vary depending on the population within the local authority, which may change over time, for example there can be higher numbers of EHE at the start of a school year as parents await their preferred school place and EHE in the meantime. High or low counts should not be used as a reflection of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ practice.