Understanding the New Bill

The UK Government has introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which aims to improve oversight of education outside the traditional school system. One key area of focus is home education and how local authorities track children who are not enrolled in school.

For tutors and tuition businesses, this Bill could bring meaningful changes to how you record and report your work with students.

What Is the “Provider Duty”?

The Bill introduces a new “Provider Duty” — a legal requirement for certain out-of-school education providers to share information with local authorities (LAs) when requested. This applies to children identified as Children Not in School (CNIS).

If you deliver more than a set proportion of a child’s education — and the parent isn’t actively involved in supervision — you may need to share:

  • The child’s name, date of birth, and address
  • The time the child spends in your provision, including any time without parental supervision

Providers who don’t comply could face monetary penalties after an initial grace period. Record-keeping will therefore become essential to show exactly how much time each child spends in tuition.

The exact threshold (e.g., hours per week) that determines whether a provider falls under this duty will be decided later, through regulations following public consultation. The Bill is unlikely to come into effect before 2027/28.

How It Could Affect Tutors and Tuition Providers

The new regulations aim to ensure children outside of school receive an appropriate education — something the Teachers’ Tutoring Association (TTA) supports. However, the TTA has raised several key concerns about how the rules might be implemented:

  1. Record-keeping and compliance
    Providers will need to maintain accurate records of student attendance and tuition hours to comply with any reporting requests from local authorities.
  2. Employment Agencies
    Many tuition businesses that operate as Employment Agencies technically don’t deliver tuition themselves — they simply supply tutors. Under the current proposals, such agencies might fall outside the duty altogether, while those operating as Employment Businesses would almost certainly exceed the threshold and therefore be subject to it.
  3. Fluctuating tuition hours
    If the threshold is based on hours taught per week, it’s unclear how fluctuating schedules will be handled.
  4. Safeguarding standards
    TTA recommends that any provider under the new duty should also meet safeguarding standards, such as holding Enhanced DBS checks and appropriate safeguarding training.
  5. Role of tuition providers
    The TTA supports measures that help ensure educational quality but strongly opposes making tutors or tuition companies act as enforcement agents to help identify unregistered home-educated children. That responsibility, they argue, should remain with local authorities, who already have access to relevant records.
  6. A fairer, simpler approach
    To avoid confusion, TTA suggests extending the provider duty to all academic education providers, rather than setting a threshold. This would create a level playing field across the industry.

TTA’s Survey: Have Your Say

The TTA is inviting all tutors and education providers to share their feedback on the proposed Bill.

🕓 The survey is open until Monday, 27th October at 8am, and results will be shared anonymously with the Department for Education (DfE).

If you’d like to help shape how the new regulations are implemented, you can fill out the short survey via the TTA website.

Next Steps for Tuition Businesses

Here’s how you can start preparing now:

  • Stay informed – Keep an eye out for updates from the DfE and TTA once consultation details are released.
  • Review your record-keeping systems – Ensure you can easily track hours taught, attendance, and supervision levels.
  • Maintain safeguarding standards – Enhanced DBS checks and up-to-date safeguarding training will remain essential.
  • Engage with industry discussions – Take part in consultations and surveys to ensure the voice of tutors is represented.

At TutorCruncher, we’re committed to helping tuition businesses stay compliant and informed as these changes unfold. We’ll continue sharing updates and practical advice through our blog and client newsletters.