Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of children attending unregistered schools.

The Department has not made any estimate of the number of pupils in unregistered schools. Those responsible for conducting unregistered schools do not generally inform the Department about the school’s operation. It is therefore not possible to accurately estimate the number of children attending unregistered schools.

Unregistered schools are those that are operating as an independent school without having registered with the Department. It is a criminal offence under Section 96 of the Education and Skills 2008 Act for any person to operate an unregistered independent school. The Department and Ofsted continue to investigate any setting where intelligence or evidence suggests the operation of an unregistered school. Section 97 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 permits no notice inspections of settings believed to be operating in breach of the registration requirement.

Between 1 January 2016 and 31 March 2023, 726 inspections of suspected unregistered independent schools took place. Of those, 146 settings were issued with a warning notice and 129 settings closed or ceased operating illegally. Since 2016, six successful prosecutions have been brought against those responsible for conducting unregistered schools.