The release provides information on the number of children in elective home education in England at census date in each term, plus the number of children in elective home education education at any time in the previous academic year. The methodology document should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data.
File formats and conventions
Local authority and regional data has been rounded to the nearest 10, national figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
The following convention is used throughout the underlying data.
x - unavailable
z - not applicable
low - denotes figures based on count that rounds to 0, but is not 0. Figures may not sum to breakdowns due to rounding.
Data files
All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.
Elective home education at census date
Filename
ehe_census.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2022/23 Autumn term to 2025/26 Autumn term
Content
The number of children in elective home education in England at the census date in each term by sex, year group and primary reason for EHE.
Variable names and descriptions for Elective home education at census date
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
breakdown
EHE children on census date by characteristics
child_count
Number of EHE children on census date
child_percent
Percentage of EHE children on census date
rate_per_100
Rate of EHE children on census day by population
Footnotes for Elective home education at census date
Local authority response rates to the data collection vary by census date. To account for non-response, where required national and regional figures have been uprated based on local authority pupil populations.
A figure that rounds to 0, but is not 0 is denoted by 'low', 'x' represents not available and 'z' is not applicable.
Primary reason ‘other’ includes instances where local authority systems record two or more of the data collection reasons in a single category, for example mental and physical health, or religious and philosophical reasons.
Elective home education at any point in the academic year
Filename
ehe_academic_year.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2021/22 to 2024/25
Content
The number of children in elective home education in England at any point in the academic year. Includes the number of starts in EHE, number of returns to education, section 437(1) notices issued, school attendance orders issued and revoked
Variable names and descriptions for Elective home education at any point in the academic year
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
ehe_anytime_full_year
Number of EHE children at any point during the year
ehe_leave
Number of EHE children who leave the local authority during the year
ehe_returns_full_year
Number of EHE children returning to school during the year
ehe_sao_issued_full_year
Number of school attendance orders issued
ehe_sao_revoked_full_year
Number of school attendance orders revoked
ehe_schtype_acad
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type academy
ehe_schtype_acad_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type academy
ehe_schtype_ap
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type alternative provision
ehe_schtype_ap_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type alternative provision
ehe_schtype_ehe
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type home educated outside the local authority
ehe_schtype_ehe_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type home educated outside the local authority
ehe_schtype_else_unk
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type elsewhere/unknown
ehe_schtype_else_unk_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type elsewhere/unknown
ehe_schtype_ey
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type early years
ehe_schtype_ey_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type early years
ehe_schtype_free
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type free school
ehe_schtype_free_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type free school
ehe_schtype_ind
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type independent
ehe_schtype_ind_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type independent
ehe_schtype_lamain
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type local authority maintained
ehe_schtype_lamain_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type local authority maintained
ehe_schtype_none
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type none (previously not of compulsory school age)
ehe_schtype_none_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type none (previously not of compulsory school age)
ehe_schtype_pru
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type pupil referral unit
ehe_schtype_pru_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type pupil referral unit
ehe_schtype_spec
Number of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type special
ehe_schtype_spec_pc
Percentage of children who started EHE in the year with previous school type special
ehe_section_437_full_year
Number of section 437(1) notices issued
ehe_starts_full_year
Number of children who started EHE during the year
Footnotes for Elective home education at any point in the academic year
Local authority response rates to the data collection vary by census date. To account for non-response, where required national and regional figures have been uprated based on local authority pupil populations.
A figure that rounds to 0, but is not 0 is denoted by 'low', 'x' represents not available and 'z' is not applicable.