Guide · For tutors, centres and groups

Home-ed co-ops and the register: what organisers need to know

A co-op where parents stay and take part is unlikely to be caught by the new provider duty. A group where children are dropped off for many hours a week may be. The dividing line has not been set, and nothing is in force yet.

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

The two tests that matter

A council can only send a group a notice if it believes the group educates a child:

for more than a prescribed amount of time, and
without any parent of that child actively involved

Both must be true. So two questions decide most cases: how many hours, and are parents taking part?

"Actively involved" is not yet defined

The Act uses the phrase but does not spell it out. Guidance is expected to. Until then, a cautious reading is that a parent who is in the room and helping is involved, and a parent who has gone home is not.

Three common set-ups

Parents stay and share the teaching. This is the classic co-op. For each child with a parent present and taking part, the second test is not met.

Drop-off sessions. Parents leave and collect later. The second test is met, so everything depends on the hours and the threshold.

A mix. Some parents stay and some do not. The duty works child by child, so you may be in scope for some children and not others.

What a notice could ask for

Only this: whether you educate such children, and for each one their name, date of birth, home address and time spent with you, including time without a parent involved. You would have at least 15 days to reply.

Who is "the provider" in a volunteer group?

The Act puts the duty on the person providing the education. In an informal group, that may not be obvious. Decide now who would receive and answer a notice. Write it down.

A separate rule to know about

The same Act widens the rules on settings that must register as independent schools. A setting giving full-time education to five or more children of compulsory school age can be caught. So can one giving full-time education to a single child who is looked after or has special educational needs. Part-time groups are not. If your group is growing towards full-time hours, take advice.

What to do now

Keep a register for each session: who came, how long, which parents stayed.
Agree who answers council letters.
Tell families plainly what you could be required to share.