Tallybook

Guide · For parents

Can the council visit my home?

A council can ask to visit, and you can say no. It has no right to enter your home to check on home education. Under the 2026 Act, a refusal becomes something the council must take into account, so the decision carries more weight than it used to.

Last checked 10 November 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

Today

Government guidance to councils is clear on three points:

  • parents are not legally required to agree to a visit
  • councils have no right of entry and may only come in if invited
  • a council's safeguarding duty does not let it insist on seeing a child just to monitor home education

The same guidance says that refusing a visit can, in some circumstances, justify a formal notice. So a refusal has never been entirely free of consequences.

Under the 2026 Act

The Act mentions home visits at three points. None is in force yet.

After registration. Within 15 days of registering a child, the council must consider where the child lives. It may ask to visit.

Before a preliminary notice. The council may ask to visit. If you refuse, it must treat the refusal as a relevant factor in deciding whether to serve the notice.

Before an attendance order. The same applies when it decides whether you have shown the education is suitable.

The Act still gives no power of entry. "May request" is the wording.

What "relevant factor" means

It does not mean a refusal proves anything. It means the council has to weigh it along with everything else you have provided.

Other ways to show the council what it needs

You can offer alternatives:

  • a written report
  • samples of work or photographs
  • a meeting somewhere else, such as a library
  • a video call

A good written account, sent promptly, leaves a council far less reason to press for a visit.

When a council can insist

Child protection powers are separate. Where there are concerns about significant harm, a council can use them to see a child. Those powers do not depend on education law.

If you do agree to a visit

  • Ask in advance who is coming and what they want to see.
  • Have someone with you if you wish.
  • Take your own notes.

Sources