Your Window or Your Life? Do home improvement enthusiasts or home educated children have more protection against poor Local Authority decision making?

Your right to a window or your right decide the best interests of your child?

Just released is an open letter by the Home Education Alliance which among other things highlights the lack of lawful protection offered to home educated children.

So how serious is this lack of protection?

To put things in perspective I asked a Town Planner in my family to help me answer this question:

"Do home improvement enthusiasts or home educated children have more protection against poor Local Authority decision making?"

Surely children have more protection then someone applying to put in a window?

Let's look at the evidence:

What Qualifications do decision makers in the local authority need ?

Window: To agree planning permission for a window a Planning Officer must have a postgraduate qualification accredited by the professional body for Town Planners. Link

Child: To decide whether a child's home education is suitable no qualifications are required. Job descriptions include criteria as low as “A-C in English and Maths GCSE; and desirable, but not essential  experience of working with children” Link (At 53 minutes in the video)

What's the default decision?

Window: The home owner can put in a window (or on a bigger scale...the developer can build a housing estate) unless the council can prove they have a clear, material reason to refuse them permission (eg. it would cause harm). Link

Child: At the moment, the choice concerning what type of education is best for their child lies with their parent (which makes sense...as we know them and love them better than anyone). Link However, clauses in the Children's Wellbeing and School's Bill change this so that Local Authority staff get to decide what is in a child's best interests (Good thing they have a maths GCSE!). Link

What can be done if the council employee makes a mistake or doesn't do a good job?

Window: If the homeowner feels they have been wrongfully refused permission to put in a new window they can appeal, for free, to the Planning Inspectorate. This is an independent government agency and there is a clear appeals process. Link

Child: If a council employee decides to issue a School Attendance Order there is no official appeal process for families to challenge the decision, and no independent agency to appeal to. The family may request that the Secretary of State to consider their case (please see below). Link

What is the likelihood of a decision being changed if the council gets it wrong?

Window: An average of 28% of appeals against local authority planning decisions are successful, but this varies considerably between authorities (up to 100% of the decisions made by some councils are overturned at appeal). Link

Child: A 2020 Freedom of Information Request showed that the Secretary of State had  revoked no school attendance orders in the previous 8 years Link. Since then the Department of Education has refused to comply with requests for similar,up to date information. Link

What are the consequences if a council employee makes a mistake, lets personal bias cloud their judgement, or otherwise doesn't do their job properly?

Window: A room in a house may not get the morning sunshine!

Child: A home educated child is torn from a style of learning and a community that they love, from their friends, their passions and their interests. They are forced into the alien environment of school, or they may be forced to return to a school culture and setting they had previously found unbearable Link.

In Summary:

Window:  Decisions about windows must be made by highly qualified professionals who bear the burden of proof, with a robust, independent appeals process available when they err (which happens often).

Child: Making professional decisions about a child's wellbeing or education does not require any qualifications. The opinions of council employees can trump the opinions of parents. No appeals process and no independent body to look again at local authority decisions. No adequate means for families to challenge decisions which could cause great suffering to their child.

This raises serious questions:

Why do people wanting to build extensions get more protection than children?

Why do the opinions of council officials trump those of parents when it comes to deciding a child's best interests?

Why do people making huge decisions about children's lives require no qualifications, whilst those making decisions about windows and extensions require post graduate certificates and degrees?

Why does the government expect the decisions of home education department staff to be flawless when this is clearly not the case in other council departments?

Why does the government think that people who want to build things need an independent appeals process, but people who want to care for their children do not?

It beats me.

To sign the open letter click here

To find out more about the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill click here

To learn about home educated lives click here

To get answers to frequently asked questions about home education click here