Children in elective home education by council, England

Official statistics in development

Children in elective home education on the autumn census day in each of England's 153 councils with education duties, with the regions and England, from the DfE.

England

126,000

2025/26 autumn term

Verified against source, 31 October 2026, 11:21 UTC

Children in elective home education

Source: Department for Education. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

In order

Ranked by the hub Children in elective home education

Every place, the highest figure first. The number before each is the hub's own position in the list, not the publisher's: equal figures share one, marked =.

1Kent4,760
2Essex4,100
3Lancashire2,980
4Birmingham2,880
5Devon2,840
6Hampshire2,780
7Norfolk2,520
8Surrey2,410
9Somerset2,270
10Cornwall2,210
11West Sussex2,140
12Nottinghamshire2,100
13Hertfordshire2,020
14East Sussex2,000
15Derbyshire1,990
16Gloucestershire1,950
17Cambridgeshire1,840
18Staffordshire1,760
19Suffolk1,730
20Lincolnshire1,680
=21Leeds1,530
=21Warwickshire1,530
=23Bradford1,400
=23Oxfordshire1,400
25County Durham1,370
26North Yorkshire1,340
27Worcestershire1,280
=28Buckinghamshire1,220
=28Leicestershire1,220
30Doncaster1,160
31Medway1,150
32Wiltshire1,110
=33North Northamptonshire1,050
=33West Northamptonshire1,050
35Wakefield1,020
36Kirklees940
37Sandwell930
38Liverpool910
=39Dudley900
=39Manchester900
41Dorset880
42Leicester870
43Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole850
=44Kingston upon Hull, City of830
=44Sheffield, its area before 1 April 2025830
46Peterborough810
47Barnsley, its area before 1 April 2025800
=48Central Bedfordshire770
=48Croydon770
50East Riding of Yorkshire760
51Cheshire East750
=52Rotherham740
=52Shropshire740
=54Bristol, City of720
=54Derby720
=54Plymouth720
57Southend-on-Sea700
=58Isle of Wight690
=58Nottingham690
=58Wigan690
=61Bolton670
=61Ealing670
=61Greenwich670
=61Walsall670
=65Cheshire West and Chester650
=65Milton Keynes650
=65Stoke-on-Trent650
68Southampton640
=69Calderdale630
=69Enfield630
=71Blackpool620
=71Coventry620
=71Telford and Wrekin620
74Cumberland610
=75South Gloucestershire600
=75Sunderland600
77Wolverhampton590
=78Barking and Dagenham580
=78Newham580
80Northumberland550
81Thurrock540
82Bromley530
=83Havering520
=83Hounslow520
=83Rochdale520
=83Wirral520
=87Bedford510
=87Newcastle upon Tyne510
=89Brighton and Hove500
=89Stockport500
=89Swindon500
=89Torbay500
93Hillingdon490
=94Lewisham480
=94Salford480
=96Solihull470
=96Stockton-on-Tees470
=98Bexley460
=98Slough460
=98St. Helens460
101Waltham Forest450
102North East Lincolnshire440
=103Brent430
=103Sefton430
=105North Somerset420
=105Oldham420
=107Blackburn with Darwen410
=107Darlington410
=107Herefordshire, County of410
=107North Lincolnshire410
=107Tameside410
=112Southwark390
=112Tower Hamlets390
=114Barnet380
=114Luton380
116Westmorland and Furness370
117Redbridge360
=118Bury350
=118Gateshead350
=118Reading350
=118Redcar and Cleveland350
122South Tyneside340
=123Islington320
=123Warrington320
=125Haringey310
=125Harrow310
=125Knowsley310
=125Wokingham310
=129Middlesbrough300
=129Sutton300
131Windsor and Maidenhead290
=132North Tyneside280
=132West Berkshire280
=132York280
=135Camden270
=135Hartlepool270
=135Lambeth270
=135Portsmouth270
=139Bath and North East Somerset260
=139Trafford260
=141Bracknell Forest250
=141Halton250
=141Kingston upon Thames250
144Merton230
=145Hackney210
=145Hammersmith and Fulham210
147Wandsworth190
148Westminster180
149Richmond upon Thames170
150Kensington and Chelsea100
151Rutland50

No figure published for Barnsley (given under its old code, E08000016), City of London (fewer than 5 (low): the DfE's ‘count that rounds to 0, but is not 0’, its counts rounded to 10), Isles of Scilly (fewer than 5 (low): the DfE's ‘count that rounds to 0, but is not 0’, its counts rounded to 10), Sheffield (given under its old code, E08000019).

Counts follow the size of the place, so the largest places tend to come first.

Data table

162 rows

Area	Children in elective home education
Kent E10000016	4,760
Essex E10000012	4,100
Lancashire E10000017	2,980
Birmingham E08000025	2,880
Devon E10000008	2,840
Hampshire E10000014	2,780
Norfolk E10000020	2,520
Surrey E10000030	2,410
Somerset E06000066	2,270
Cornwall E06000052	2,210
West Sussex E10000032	2,140
Nottinghamshire E10000024	2,100
Hertfordshire E10000015	2,020
East Sussex E10000011	2,000
Derbyshire E10000007	1,990
Gloucestershire E10000013	1,950
Cambridgeshire E10000003	1,840
Staffordshire E10000028	1,760
Suffolk E10000029	1,730
Lincolnshire E10000019	1,680
Leeds E08000035	1,530
Warwickshire E10000031	1,530
Bradford E08000032	1,400
Oxfordshire E10000025	1,400
County Durham E06000047	1,370
North Yorkshire E06000065	1,340
Worcestershire E10000034	1,280
Buckinghamshire E06000060	1,220
Leicestershire E10000018	1,220
Doncaster E08000017	1,160
Medway E06000035	1,150
Wiltshire E06000054	1,110
North Northamptonshire E06000061	1,050
West Northamptonshire E06000062	1,050
Wakefield E08000036	1,020
Kirklees E08000034	940
Sandwell E08000028	930
Liverpool E08000012	910
Manchester E08000003	900
Dudley E08000027	900
Dorset E06000059	880
Leicester E06000016	870
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole E06000058	850
Kingston upon Hull, City of E06000010	830
Sheffield E08000019 its area before 1 April 2025	830
Peterborough E06000031	810
Barnsley E08000016 its area before 1 April 2025	800
Central Bedfordshire E06000056	770
Croydon E09000008	770
East Riding of Yorkshire E06000011	760
Cheshire East E06000049	750
Shropshire E06000051	740
Rotherham E08000018	740
Derby E06000015	720
Bristol, City of E06000023	720
Plymouth E06000026	720
Southend-on-Sea E06000033	700
Nottingham E06000018	690
Isle of Wight E06000046	690
Wigan E08000010	690
Bolton E08000001	670
Walsall E08000030	670
Ealing E09000009	670
Greenwich E09000011	670
Stoke-on-Trent E06000021	650
Milton Keynes E06000042	650
Cheshire West and Chester E06000050	650
Southampton E06000045	640
Calderdale E08000033	630
Enfield E09000010	630
Blackpool E06000009	620
Telford and Wrekin E06000020	620
Coventry E08000026	620
Cumberland E06000063	610
South Gloucestershire E06000025	600
Sunderland E08000024	600
Wolverhampton E08000031	590
Barking and Dagenham E09000002	580
Newham E09000025	580
Northumberland E06000057	550
Thurrock E06000034	540
Bromley E09000006	530
Rochdale E08000005	520
Wirral E08000015	520
Havering E09000016	520
Hounslow E09000018	520
Bedford E06000055	510
Newcastle upon Tyne E08000021	510
Torbay E06000027	500
Swindon E06000030	500
Brighton and Hove E06000043	500
Stockport E08000007	500
Hillingdon E09000017	490
Salford E08000006	480
Lewisham E09000023	480
Stockton-on-Tees E06000004	470
Solihull E08000029	470
Slough E06000039	460
St. Helens E08000013	460
Bexley E09000004	460
Waltham Forest E09000031	450
North East Lincolnshire E06000012	440
Sefton E08000014	430
Brent E09000005	430
North Somerset E06000024	420
Oldham E08000004	420
Darlington E06000005	410
Blackburn with Darwen E06000008	410
North Lincolnshire E06000013	410
Herefordshire, County of E06000019	410
Tameside E08000008	410
Southwark E09000028	390
Tower Hamlets E09000030	390
Luton E06000032	380
Barnet E09000003	380
Westmorland and Furness E06000064	370
Redbridge E09000026	360
Redcar and Cleveland E06000003	350
Reading E06000038	350
Bury E08000002	350
Gateshead E08000037	350
South Tyneside E08000023	340
Warrington E06000007	320
Islington E09000019	320
Wokingham E06000041	310
Knowsley E08000011	310
Haringey E09000014	310
Harrow E09000015	310
Middlesbrough E06000002	300
Sutton E09000029	300
Windsor and Maidenhead E06000040	290
York E06000014	280
West Berkshire E06000037	280
North Tyneside E08000022	280
Hartlepool E06000001	270
Portsmouth E06000044	270
Camden E09000007	270
Lambeth E09000022	270
Bath and North East Somerset E06000022	260
Trafford E08000009	260
Halton E06000006	250
Bracknell Forest E06000036	250
Kingston upon Thames E09000021	250
Merton E09000024	230
Hackney E09000012	210
Hammersmith and Fulham E09000013	210
Wandsworth E09000032	190
Westminster E09000033	180
Richmond upon Thames E09000027	170
Kensington and Chelsea E09000020	100
Rutland E06000017	50
Isles of Scilly E06000053	fewer than 5 (low): the DfE's ‘count that rounds to 0, but is not 0’, its counts rounded to 10
City of London E09000001	fewer than 5 (low): the DfE's ‘count that rounds to 0, but is not 0’, its counts rounded to 10
Barnsley E08000038	given for its area before 1 April 2025, under E08000016
Sheffield E08000039	given for its area before 1 April 2025, under E08000019
North East	5,790
North West	14,780
Yorkshire and The Humber	13,090
East Midlands	11,430
West Midlands	14,040
East of England	15,910
South East	22,560
South West	15,830
England	126,000

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Map

Children in elective home education · 130 areas, each shaded by the fifth of the areas its figure falls in

50 to 310
310 to 460
460 to 610
610 to 770
770 to 2,880

Boundaries: Council boundaries, May 2026, from the geography spine. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source and licence

Publisher

Department for Education

Check it yourself

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education

Licence

Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Retrieved

31 October 2026, 11:12 UTC

Raw files fetched

https://api.education.gov.uk/statistics/v1/data-sets/019bb857-0b36-7011-8d52-15ea8c0d18b0/meta?dataSetVersion=1.0.1SHA-256 b262240a481892bc3de54af8071553c43ca1abeaa601a0c7d470e26637ef99cb · 15,032 bytes
https://api.education.gov.uk/statistics/v1/data-sets/019bb857-0b36-7011-8d52-15ea8c0d18b0/query?dataSetVersion=1.0.1&indicators=huDyW&geographicLevels.in=LA,REG,NAT&timePeriods.eq=2025%2F2026%7CT1&filters.notIn=9ln74,dRXA0,7SwiX,cro23,5UBVd,t7ZtE,f5tHY,jYKgA,eaz9u,ThYmP,hsdly,m2vy9,gF6YO,AH1fG,V4B95,PyHye,1qaji,dRXh0,uLFlo,l6oQc,U3SMR,oWJZm,rG2XN,Gzi5g,S9I2V,yx0ba,R8VQk,bBZVt,DOcpQ,eaz6u,5U7Md,4cptU,m2vb9,0kfrT,W1e72,EXx9q&pageSize=10000SHA-256 84c0b8fd140703980a471cee649477e65e2a239900c9bbc83a77f5e119960565 · 32,314 bytes

Verification

Verified against source, 31 October 2026, 11:21 UTC Run at 31 October 2026, 11:21 UTC; 162 of 162 figures matched the live source.

Result	Check	Detail
Pass	Provenance recorded	Department for Education; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-10-31T11:12:27Z; 2 raw file(s)
Pass	Raw files match recorded SHA-256	2 of 2 files intact
Pass	Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures	162 of 162 figures and the headline reproduced
Pass	Figures are finite numbers	162 figures, 0 invalid
Pass	Live source matches every figure	162 of 162 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (1 byte-identical); the headline matches
Pass	EES data set is current	latest period 2025/26 autumn term ended 304 days before retrieval (limit 550)
Pass	The data set's CSV agrees	164 of 164 cells of the stored query, figures and marks, equal version 1.0.1's CSV (https://api.education.gov.uk/statistics/v1/data-sets/019bb857-0b36-7011-8d52-15ea8c0d18b0/csv?dataSetVersion=1.0.1, 164 rows read)
Pass	The councils add up to their region and the regions to England	10 comparisons expected, each region's councils and England's regions in every count and combination, London as Inner and Outer London: 10 within the rounding the DfE states (0 exactly; 2 with a council's 'low' as 1 to 4)
Pass	Source page answers	https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education – HTTP 200

Notes

Children of compulsory school age the council knows are educated at home by their parents' choice on the census day in October, as local authorities report them. Collecting these figures became mandatory in the autumn of 2024, and the DfE publishes them as official statistics in development.
The DfE gives these figures for England's 153 councils with education and children's services duties (its unitary, metropolitan and London councils and its 21 counties), not for districts.
The DfE gives Barnsley and Sheffield under the codes they had before part of Barnsley moved into Sheffield on the 1st of April 2025 (E08000016 and E08000019), and they are shown so.
The DfE's methodology: “Local authority and regional data has been rounded to the nearest 10, national figures are rounded to the nearest 100.”
The DfE gives Inner and Outer London, not London, so London's figure is not shown; the checks hold London's councils to those two together, and add England up from its other regions and those two.