General information about England, not legal or financial advice. Funding and benefit rules change, so check the GOV.UK pages linked below before you rely on them.
Who pays
No money follows your child out of school. The Department for Education's guidance for parents says parents who home educate must be prepared to "assume full financial responsibility for the child's education". It lists exams, books, paper, IT and other equipment, educational visits and sporting activities, and it names the cost many families feel most: lost income when a parent stays at home to teach.
Past that, there's no standard bill. Some families spend very little; others pay for tutors, weekly classes and several exams a year. Nobody can give you an honest average.
What the state still pays for
Help from your council
Ask yours whether it has a policy. Councils don't fund home education, but some help at the edges: paragraph 3.6 of the parents' guidance says a council may help with the cost of public exams, and may consider support where special educational needs bring extra costs. Both are discretionary. A DfE funding note for local authorities confirms councils can keep helping with things like exam fees.
If your child has an EHC plan
The council must give a request for help reasonable consideration, and any support should cover the costs caused by your child's special needs rather than the ordinary costs of home education. What it doesn't have to do, if you're providing a suitable education, is arrange the provision in the plan (parents' guidance, paragraph 5.21). Nor does it have to help with your costs if it offered provision and you made your own arrangements instead (guidance for local authorities, paragraph 8.8). Home education and SEND has more.
Part-time school or college
This one depends on someone saying yes. Time at a state school or FE college for part of the week costs you nothing (local authorities' guidance, paragraph 1.4), but schools don't have to agree, as flexi-schooling explains. From 14, some FE and sixth-form colleges take home-educated young people part-time, and the DfE funds the college for them. They don't have to offer these places, though, so ask locally.
Free school meals and Child Benefit
You lose the first and keep the second. The legal duty to provide school lunches is owed to registered pupils at a school, so once your child is taken off the roll to be home educated, lunches come out of your budget. Child Benefit is different: the conditions for a child under 16 say nothing about school. You normally qualify if you're responsible for the child and live in the UK.
At 16 it gets more complicated. Child Benefit continues only if your child stays in approved education or training, and GOV.UK's page on Child Benefit when your child turns 16 counts home education if it's full-time: more than an average of 12 hours a week of supervised study, or fewer if an illness or disability makes that appropriate. You have to tell HMRC, or payments stop on 31 August on or after their 16th birthday.
Don't expect the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund. It's for students at a publicly funded school or college, and the parents' guidance (paragraph 6.12) says it isn't paid for young people home educated after 16.
Where the money goes
| Cost area | What it can include | Free or low-cost options |
|---|---|---|
| Resources and curriculum | Books, workbooks, online courses, subscriptions, materials | Library books, Oak National Academy, BBC Bitesize, second-hand books |
| Tutors and classes | Private tutors, weekly classes, online lessons, clubs | Classes shared with other families, part-time college places from 14 |
| Groups and co-ops | Shares of venue hire, session fees, materials | Meet-ups in parks and libraries, parents taking turns to lead sessions |
| Trips | Entry fees, travel, food | Free national museums and galleries, group and education rates, local walks |
| Exams | Entry fees, exam centre charges, travel to the centre | Fewer subjects at once, asking your council about help with exam fees |
| Equipment and devices | Laptop or tablet, printer and ink, science and art kit | Refurbished devices, kitchen-table science, borrowing and swapping |
| A parent's working hours | Income lost by working less or not at all | Sharing the teaching between adults, fitting part of the week around work |
Resources and curriculum
There's no need to follow the national curriculum or buy a packaged one, and plenty of good material is free. Oak National Academy has free online lessons for Years 1 to 11. BBC Bitesize runs from early years to GCSE with no subscription. Public libraries can't charge you to borrow printed books if you live, work or study in the area, though they can charge for reservations and late returns (Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, sections 7 and 8).
Tutors and classes
Paying someone else to teach is where costs can climb quickly, especially in exam years or for subjects you can't cover yourself. Hire a tutor directly and it's on you to check they're suitable, including a recent DBS certificate (parents' guidance, paragraph 6.1).
Groups, co-ops and trips
Some home education groups are free to join; others charge per session to cover a hall. On trips, travel and food can cost more than the tickets. The national museums and galleries sponsored by the government offer free entry to their permanent collections. Some other venues have group or education rates, so ask whether a home education group qualifies.
Exams
Exams are optional. If your child sits them, you pay the exam centre that takes them as a private candidate: the exam board's entry fees plus any charges of the centre's own, and then the travel. Centres set their own charges, so compare more than one. Sitting GCSEs as a private candidate covers finding a centre and what the fees pay for.
Equipment and devices
At primary age, a shared family computer and a library card go a long way. Later on, a child doing online courses or coursework needs regular use of a device.
A parent's time
This can be the largest cost of all, and it never shows up on a receipt. If one parent cuts their hours or stops work, the lost income can outweigh everything else on this list. The DfE's guidance names it too (paragraph 4.4). Give it a real figure in your plan, whatever that turns out to be.
Budgeting a term at a time
A term is short enough to see where the money went, even if you don't keep to school terms.
- List the fixed costs: classes, tutors, group fees and subscriptions that come round every week or month.
- Add the one-offs you can see coming, such as exam entries, a trip, a new device or a course starting in January.
- Keep a small fund for surprises, like a child who suddenly wants to learn the guitar or build a weather station.
- At the end of term, check what you spent and whether it was worth it. Drop anything that wasn't.
Plan exam money furthest ahead. For the June 2027 GCSE and A level exams, the Joint Council for Qualifications deadline for entries is 21 February 2027. Check your centre's own booking date too, as it may come sooner.
Notebook, spreadsheet or app
A notebook or spreadsheet is enough to keep track. AltEd's free plan keeps plans, classes and records in one place; its getting started guide shows what's in it. Whichever you use, a record of what you did each term (see home education records) also shows what the money bought.
Keeping it low
- Start with what's free: the library, Oak, Bitesize and the outdoors. Pay for things once you know what your child needs.
- Join a local group before you buy classes. Other families can tell you which ones are good value.
- Buy second-hand, and sell or pass on what you've finished with.
- Ask your council about help with exam fees well before the exam years.
- Don't recreate school at home. You don't need a timetable, a uniform or a classroom's worth of supplies.