Humanists UK urges UK Government to act on illegal schools with robust regulation of out-of-school settings

Humanists UK has called on the UK Government to introduce a mandatory national registration and regulation scheme for out-of-school settings, warning that any voluntary approach would fail to protect children.

In its submission to the Department for Education’s call for evidence on out-of-school settings safeguarding, Humanists UK argues that only a mandatory system will close the loopholes that allow proprietors of illegal faith schools to pose as part-time ‘supplementary’ provision. Proprietors of illegal schools claim that these settings are ‘supplementary’ or ‘out-of-school settings’, meaning that Ofsted does not have the power to inspect them, and the pupils attending them receive their main education at home. In reality, young people attend these settings six days a week, for long hours – sometimes as long as 14 – a day. The education provided in many illegal faith schools is narrow in its scope, predominantly scriptural in its content, and deeply intolerant in its outlook. Many pupils who attend these schools are taught by unqualified teachers in appalling conditions with an absence of safeguarding. Some young people in these settings have also been subject to physical and sexual abuse.

Humanists UK’s submission also calls for a statutory threshold defining ‘part-time’ education, enhanced DBS checks (including the Children’s Barred List) for all staff, and clear standards for safe, suitable premises. These would enhance the measures to tackle illegal schools proposed in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament and seeks to define independent educational institutions as providing full-time education in legislation. Although MPs were supportive of these measures, All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG) Chair Lizzi Collinge MP, raised concerns about how illegal school proprietors could exploit loopholes in the proposed legislation by posing as a part-time setting. The Minister responding said he would write to LIzzi Collinge on the issues she raised. During the Lords Committee stage of the Bill, peers questioned whether children spending long hours at an out-of-school setting could also receive an appropriate home education.

Humanists UK’s Education Campaigns Manager Lewis Young said:

‘In the interest of child safety it’s vital that every possible loophole exploited by illegal school proprietors is closed. That’s why we’ve called on the Government to introduce the most robust possible regulation on out-of-school settings, including a mandatory register. 

‘Children’s safety can’t depend on who chooses to sign up, and a voluntary system will miss precisely those providers who are most likely to put children at risk. The Government must introduce a mandatory register and robust regulation around ‘part-time’ settings so that young people are safe, visible to authorities, and receive a broad and balanced education that prepares them for modern life.’