Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

What do school and academy trust leaders need to know?

Following its unveiling in the Kings Speech, the Government has introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to Parliament.

The Bill proposes significant changes to existing legislation with further obligations and duties placed on schools, academy trusts, local authorities and parents. This, coupled with wider powers given to local authorities, aims to provide further safeguarding measures for children, remove barriers to education and improve systems and processes within the sector. 

Below we highlight some of the Bill’s proposed changes which school and academy trust leaders need to be aware of. 

Children not in school and home educated children

The Education Act 1996 will be expanded to include provisions relating to children not in school. The following requirements will apply: 

• A parent must obtain consent from their local authority if they wish to remove their child from school to be educated at home (or otherwise). This requirement applies to a child of compulsory school age that is:

• on roll at a special school;

• the subject of enquiries by a local authority under section 47 of the Children Act 1989; or

• on a child protection plan.

• A local authority will be required to maintain a register of children not in school. This will include details of who is educating the child and how much time the child spends being educated. It will be the responsibility of the parent to inform the local authority of this information and they can be fined if they do not do so.

• A local authority will have the power to serve a School Attendance Order if they are not satisfied that a child is receiving suitable education or attending school on a regular basis or they feel a child would be better educated in a school environment. If a parent receives one of these orders, they will be required to register their child at a designated school and it will be an offence not to do so. 

School admissions 

The Bill means that schools or academy trusts and their local authorities will be required to co-operate with each other to carry out their respective duties in relation to school admissions and place planning. The aim is to ensure unplaced and vulnerable children are allocated a place at school as soon as possible and that the needs of the community are met. 

New schools

Currently, under section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, if a local authority believes a new school is needed in the area, they must seek proposals for the establishment of an academy only. Under the new Bill, this requirement will be removed, allowing local authorities to invite proposals for other types of schools. The process for reviewing, approving and implementing the proposals will also be refined.

Academy orders

It is proposed that the current statutory duty to issue an academy order to schools requiring significant improvement or in special measures will be removed, although the Bill will create a statutory power to issue an academy order to such schools. 

Academies

The Bill proposes to bring in the following specific changes for academies:

• It is proposed that academies will be brought into the remit of the School Teachers’ Review Body, with academies being required to follow the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document rather than being able to set their own contractual terms for teachers.

• Teachers will be required to have, or be working towards, qualified teacher status.

• The Bill will create a statutory requirement for academies to teach the National Curriculum, matching the requirements for maintained schools. This is intended to be implemented following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the recommendations of which are due to be published in 2025.

• The Bill aims to extend, to academies, the power afforded to maintained schools to temporarily direct pupils to attend any place outside the school premises for education if it is for the purpose of improving behaviour.

• Local authorities will be given extended powers to direct an academy to admit a child. As academies are directly funded by the Department for Education and not under locval authority control, local authorities have not previously been able to direct academies in the same way as maintained schools.

• The Secretary of State will also be able to give an academy trust such directions as the Secretary of State considers appropriate to secure the property performance of the relevant duty (mirroring the Secretary of State power to direct a local authority in the discharge of its duties). 

Employment of children 

The employment of children and young people is subject to a range of laws and regulations. Our article – ‘Work experience and employing children – what employers and schools need to know’ – considers the overlapping laws, regulations and obligations around employing young people and children. Many of the laws surrounding the employment of children are contained in the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. The Bill intends to amend this Act to implement and/or amend the following:

• a child will not be allowed to work before 7am or after 8pm on any given day;

• a child will be allowed to work for up to one hour before school; and

• a permit issued by the local authority will be required for a child to be employed.  

The Bill also relaxes the restrictions surrounding children working on a Sunday to bring the restrictions in line with working on a Saturday. The two-hour restriction for working on a Sunday will be removed. However, the overall hours that a child will be permitted to work in a week will remain the same.

The Bill gives the Secretary of State the power to make further regulations regarding child employment, replacing the current system whereby local authorities create byelaws. 

School uniforms 

The Bill proposes to limit the number of branded school uniform items that a school or an academy can require students to wear. The number will be limited to three unless a tie is included in the uniform for a secondary school, in which case the number of branded items permitted will be increased to four. 

This extends to all clothing required for any lesson, club or activity. It will therefore extend to any sports kits, PE kits and branded school bags. The Government’s aim is to lower costs for parents and ensure every pupil has the same opportunities when it comes to education, clubs and sports. 

Breakfast clubs 

In its manifesto, the Labour party committed to introducing breakfast clubs in state-funded primary schools. The Bill therefore aims to deliver on this commitment: all state-funded primary schools (including maintained schools and academies) will be required to provide a free breakfast club before school to registered pupils up to the age of 12. The club must include food and last for at least thirty minutes. 

Next steps for the Bill

The Bill is still in the early stages, being considered by MPs at Second Reading in the House of Commons on 8^th January 2025. No timescales have been given regarding when the Bill is expected to pass. It seems reasonable to expect that many of the provisions of the Bill will become effective throughout 2025 and 2026 once the legislation receives Royal Assent.