The number of children being taught at home has risen again, with more than 175,000 educated outside school last year, according to new government data.
Figures published by the Department for Education (DfE) show a total of 175,900 children in England were electively home educated at some point during the 2024/25 academic year; up from 153,300 the year before – a rise of 15%.
Just in the autumn term of 2025 alone, 126,000 children were being educated at home – out of about nine million school-eligible youngsters.
Of that 126,000, one in six (16%) cited mental health as the main reason, while 12% were home educated for “philosophical or preferential” reasons.
The data also highlights the scale of additional needs among home-educated pupils. One in six (16%) required special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support, while 7% had an education, health and care plan (EHCP).
Experts put the increase in home education down to a combination of factors but say many parents of children with learning or mental health difficulties acted because schools aren’t getting sufficient funding to provide the support they need.
Jo Hutchinson, co-director for early years and wellbeing at the Education Policy Institute (EPI), said: “It is deeply concerning that the number of children in elective home education continues to climb.
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“We need to ensure children with SEND and mental health difficulties feel they belong in the mainstream system, while also securing adequate specialist places for those with the most complex needs.”
The Children’s Commissioner estimated in 2024 that a quarter of children leaving school for home education required SEND support.
Michelle Zaher, co-director of the non-profit Educational Freedom, which provides home education information and support for families said: “It comes as no surprise that there is an increase in numbers.
“Parents are better informed that it is an option to home educate. Some parents forced out of the private sector through taxation have taken up online schools due to a lack of suitable state school places in their area. This artificially inflates the numbers.
“Then we have families feeling they have no choice but to withdraw their child to home educate because of local authority failures to implement EHCPs appropriately, and schools not receiving sufficient funding to provide the essential SEN support.
“Parents will therefore act in their child’s best interests and home educate their child rather than allow their child to be further failed.
“Most of the families we support didn’t set out to home educate. They were forced into it because their child was struggling, unsupported, or traumatised by their experience at school.”
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Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “It is striking how mental health remains the reason most frequently identified, and the increase in the proportion of pupils being educated at home for this reason highlights the need for further investment in community mental health services.”
The new figures also reveal that in autumn 2025, 34,700 children were recorded as missing education, compared with 39,200 in autumn 2024.
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The government has said its Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce tighter rules around home schooling, including requiring parents to seek local authority consent in certain circumstances.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Every child deserves the chance to get on in life, and we believe that no child’s background should determine their success. In the vast majority of cases, children achieve and thrive best in schools. But parents do have the right to choose to educate their children at home, where that is suitable and in the child’s best interests.
“As part of our Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are introducing Children Not in School registers to help local authorities identify those children who are not receiving a suitable education and to take action to support them to improve their life chances.
“We are tackling barriers to school attendance, including through expanding access to mental health support teams in all schools and making sure more children with SEND can achieve and thrive at their local school alongside their peers – including investing at least £3 billion to create more specialist places.”
