663 children and young people are being home-schooled in Cumberland

Members of Cumberland Council’s people and overview and scrutiny committee met at Allerdale House in Workington on Tuesday (December 3) to get an update on the issue.

The document – Children Missing Education and Elective Home Education (EHE) – was presented to members by Emma Hamer, the council’s assistant director for education, SEND and inclusion.

According to the report there were a total of 663 children and young people being home educated in 2023/24 compared with 594 during 2021/22 in the Cumberland Council area.

In addition, as of October 25, 2024, there were 26 children who are missing education in the same area, which is approximately 0.06 percent of the school age population.

Ms Hamer said that the two figures represented distinctly different groups, with the first being as a result of a parental choice to remove the youngster to be educated at home, whereas those missing education were not registered at any school.

She told members that the number being educated at home was in line with the national average and one possible reason for the rise was a lack of inclusion at some schools. She added: “It is in keeping with the national figure, we are not unique.”

Members were told that the council now has an EHE monitoring officer and she added: “Since that officer has come into post the relationship with the EHE community is better.”

Ms Hamer said that parents were asked to provide evidence that suitable education was being delivered and not all parents complied with the request.

However, councillor Chris Wills (Upperby, Lib Dems) said he was surprised that there was only one officer for the whole of Cumberland and suggested there should be a minimum of two or three.

Councillor Andy Pratt (Millom Without, Conservative) agreed that there should be more than one officer and added: “It’s a massive job, at the best they are going to get one visit a year.”

And councillor Sam Pollen (Egremont, Labour) said it was a big step forward for the council and they were going in the right direction.

He said that, according to the report, the biggest reason for parents to educate their children at home was mental health which was around three times higher than the next – a 'philosophical or preferential reason'.

He added: “What can we do to address the issue of mental health?”

Ms Hamer said that they had strengthened SEND and councillor Elaine Lynch (Wigton, Labour), the lifelong learning and development portfolio holder, said that there was a lot of work going on around the subject within the public health service.

She said that reasons for a child not wanting to go to school included anxiety of the school or the school environment and family issues, but the new Labour government had promised there would be a mental health specialist in every school.

Cllr Wills, who was the committee chairman for the meeting, said that a “parental culture” which had grown in recent years which had led to more children being withdrawn from school.

Ms Hamer told members that the children missing education issue was being tackled with “rigour and challenge” with rigorous processes in place.

Cllr Wills proposed that EHE staffing levels should be reviewed, which was agreed, and Cllr Pollen said: “One officer seems very thin on the ground.”