General information about England, not legal advice; the rest of the UK has its own rules. Funding rules change each academic year, so look at the GOV.UK pages linked below before relying on them.
When compulsory school age ends
Your duty as a parent under section 7 of the Education Act 1996 is to educate a child "of compulsory school age". That stage ends on the last Friday of June in the school year in which your child turns 16. GOV.UK puts it from the young person's side: you can leave school on the last Friday in June if you'll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays.
A home-educated teenager has no school to leave, but the date still matters. After it, the council's elective home education enquiries no longer apply. They rest on that section 7 duty and on section 436A, which is about children of compulsory school age too.
Staying in education or training until 18
Under the Education and Skills Act 2008, a young person in England who is past compulsory school age, under 18 and without a level 3 qualification must be in one of these:
- full-time education, at a college for example;
- an apprenticeship;
- work or volunteering for 20 hours or more a week, alongside part-time education or training.
GOV.UK's school leaving page gives the same three routes. Traineeships were once a fourth, but the standalone programme ended on 31 July 2023. Colleges and training providers now deliver traineeships for 16 to 18 year olds as part of 16 to 19 study programmes, according to the DfE's statutory guidance on participation (Annex 1, paragraph 13).
The duty sits with the young person, not with you, and it ends on their 18th birthday rather than at the end of that school year (paragraph 37). Anyone who already has a level 3 qualification of sufficient size is free of it sooner; the guidance gives two A levels as an example (Annex 1, paragraph 4).
There are no penalties. The Act does contain a whole chapter on attendance notices, fines and offences for young people who don't take part, but when we checked legislation.gov.uk on 24 October 2026 that chapter was marked prospective, meaning it has never come into force.
Does carrying on at home count?
Yes. Annex 1, paragraph 8 of the statutory guidance deals with it directly:
- no hourly requirement applies to home education (for comparison, paragraph 7 puts full-time at a college at 580 hours a year or more, around 19 a week);
- how much is done, and what, is up to the home educator;
- usually the young person says they're home educated, and if the council has doubts it may ask a parent to confirm;
- the council isn't required to keep monitoring the education itself.
The DfE's guidance for parents agrees that children may be educated at home in order to take part in education and training until 18 (paragraph 2.3).
Who might get in touch
You may hear from the council around your child's 16th birthday. Councils must keep track of 16 and 17 year olds and identify any who aren't in education or training, and the same guidance says every young person turning 16 or 17 is entitled to an offer of a suitable place by the end of September (paragraph 28). If your teenager is carrying on at home, saying so is normally enough.
College and sixth form
From 14, part-time
Home-educated 14 to 16 year olds can study particular subjects part-time at some state-funded FE colleges and sixth form colleges. None has to take them (parents' guidance, paragraph 6.4), so ask the ones near you whether they have an arrangement. The college's funding for these students comes from the DfE: its 16 to 19 funding rules for 2026 to 2027 cover electively home-educated children of compulsory school age enrolled at FE and sixth-form colleges.
Applying at 16 without GCSEs
Entry requirements differ from course to course, so ask the admissions team what they'd want to see from a home-educated applicant. Have your records ready, with samples of work, what your teenager has studied and any qualifications they've taken.
Under the DfE's maths and English condition of funding, students aged 16 to 18 on a study programme who don't hold a grade 4 or above at GCSE in either subject must keep studying it, and the guidance names home-educated students as covered (section 8.1). What they study depends on where they start:
- With a grade 3, a full-time student must study towards the GCSE.
- With grade 2 or below, or no GCSE at all, they can work towards the GCSE or Functional Skills level 2, or start with a level 1 or entry level qualification if that suits them better.
- With no record of prior attainment, the college should use its own diagnostic assessment.
Students with an EHC plan who are assessed as unable to study towards either GCSE are exempt, though they should still study maths and English at a suitable level. A teenager who passes English and maths before starting doesn't have this requirement. Sitting them from home is what GCSEs as a private candidate is about.
Apprenticeships
Anyone who is 16 or over, living in England and not in full-time education can become an apprentice, GOV.UK says. Young people can apply earlier if they'll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays. Under the apprenticeship funding rules for 2026 to 2027, though, a funded apprenticeship starts after the last Friday in June of the school year of their 16th birthday (paragraph 30.1).
English and maths are a compulsory part of the apprenticeship for anyone who starts at 16 to 18 without a suitable qualification in them, and the training is funded up to level 2 (paragraph 47.1). How far they must get depends on the apprenticeship. On a level 3 or higher apprenticeship they must hold or achieve level 2 in both subjects to finish it (paragraph 55). On a level 2 apprenticeship, someone starting with no level 1 must reach at least level 1 and then work towards level 2 (paragraph 54.1.1).
The routes side by side
| Route after 16 | Meets the duty to stay in education or training | Child Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Home education | Yes, with no set hours | Yes, if it's full-time |
| Full-time college or sixth form | Yes | Yes, for courses up to level 3 |
| Apprenticeship | Yes | No |
| Work or volunteering of 20+ hours a week, with part-time education or training | Yes | Only if the study itself is full-time |
Money after 16
Child Benefit can carry on while your teenager is home educated. GOV.UK's Child Benefit after 16 page lists home education among the kinds of education that count, though an apprenticeship doesn't. It has to be full-time in the benefit's sense: what home education costs explains the 12-hour rule, and you can count your teenager's hours with the hours calculator. Tell HMRC too. Otherwise payments stop on 31 August on or after the 16th birthday.
Only students at a publicly funded school or college can get the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund. If your teenager carries on at home, it isn't paid (parents' guidance, paragraph 6.12).
Mixing the routes
Nothing stops a teenager combining them: studying at home, doing a subject or two part-time at college, and sitting exams as a private candidate. A levels work that way too, and A levels as a private candidate goes through what's involved.
A college or an employer may ask what your teenager has done, so it pays to have it written down. Home education records covers the basics, and a free education record turns your notes into something you can hand over.
For help choosing, the National Careers Service gives free, confidential careers advice to young people aged 13 and over in England, online and by phone (parents' guidance, paragraph 6.9).