What are an LA's duties for children out of school?

An LA's duties for children out of school

Two duties, not one

Local authorities hold two duties: to arrange suitable, usually full-time education for any child unable to attend school through illness, exclusion or otherwise, and to identify children missing education. These are separate legal duties that are often run together, and a single child can engage both at once. The first sits in section 19 of the Education Act 1996; the second in section 436A of the same Act. Knowing which one bites, and when, is the start of getting the response right.

	Section 19 — arrange	Section 436A — identify
What it is	Duty to put education in place for a child who cannot attend	Duty to find children of compulsory school age who are off-roll and not being educated suitably elsewhere
Who it covers	Any compulsory-school-age child kept from suitable education by illness, exclusion or otherwise	Children missing education (CME) — not on any school roll and not otherwise suitably educated
The action	Commission and provide suitable, normally full-time education	Establish identity, locate the child, and return them to suitable education
EHCP needed?	No	No

When the section 19 duty bites

Section 19 requires the authority to make arrangements for suitable education, at school or otherwise, for any child of compulsory school age who would not otherwise receive it by reason of illness, exclusion or otherwise. Suitable means efficient education suited to the child's age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs, and it should normally be full-time. Two trigger points are fixed:

Permanent exclusion: suitable full-time education must begin from the sixth school day after the first day the exclusion took effect.
Health needs: arrange provision as soon as it is clear the child will miss 15 school days or more, whether consecutive or cumulative, because of their health.

The word that does the work is otherwise. The duty is not limited to illness and exclusion; it reaches non-attendance driven by severe anxiety and emotionally based school avoidance too. It does not depend on the child holding an EHCP, and it is not switched off because the absence is not the authority's fault. Where the response is education off-site, this is the route into alternative provision; for the timing and scope of that, see when an LA must arrange alternative provision.

When the section 436A duty bites

Section 436A is a different obligation: to make arrangements that, so far as possible, establish the identities of children in the area who are of compulsory school age, not registered at a school, and not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school. This is the children missing education duty, and the authority must have regard to the Secretary of State's guidance, updated in September 2025. It is proactive and population-wide, not case-triggered: the point is to find children who have fallen out of the system before harm follows. A child you are arranging education for under section 19 may also be a child you must account for under section 436A.

The safeguarding dimension

Children out of school and children missing education are at heightened risk. The 2025 children missing education guidance is explicit that they are at significant risk of underachieving, of poorer health outcomes, of becoming victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation, and of becoming NEET later in life. Prompt action and information-sharing across education, social care and health are part of the duty, not an add-on to it. If a child currently out of school is in immediate danger, that is a safeguarding response first — follow your local procedures and, in an emergency, call 999. Delay is itself a risk factor.