What is alternative provision and when must an LA arrange it?

The statutory definition

Alternative provision is education a local authority arranges for children out of school through exclusion or illness. The section 19 duty bites once a child is out of school, normally by the sixth school day. More fully, it covers any compulsory-school-age child who, through exclusion, illness or other reasons, would not otherwise receive suitable schooling. The current DfE guidance (February 2025) frames it that way, and the typical settings are pupil referral units, alternative provision academies and free schools, and other registered or unregistered settings commissioned to deliver it. Schools also use alternative provision themselves, for example to educate a suspended pupil or as an off-site behaviour direction.

When the section 19 duty bites

Under section 19(1) of the Education Act 1996, your authority must arrange suitable education for any compulsory-school-age child who, by reason of illness, exclusion or otherwise, would not otherwise receive it. That education must be suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs, and it must be full-time unless part-time is in the child’s best interests for reasons relating to their physical or mental health (section 19(3A) and 19(6)). The timing turns on why the child is out of school, and the two triggers are distinct:

• Exclusion and other non-medical absence: provision should begin as soon as possible and at the latest by the sixth school day of absence. For a suspension, the school arranges full-time education from the sixth school day, or earlier.
• Health needs: arrange provision as soon as it is clear the child will be away for 15 school days or more, whether those days are consecutive or cumulative across the year. There is no absolute legal deadline for health-needs cases, but once you are informed you should begin arranging suitable education without delay.

What alternative provision is not

This is the boundary the top results blur. Alternative provision is not elective home education, where a parent chooses to educate at home and takes on responsibility for it. It is also not education otherwise than at school arranged under section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014, which sits inside an EHC plan and is a SEND route, not a section 19 one. The February 2025 guidance is explicit on both points, and it replaced the 2013 and 2016 versions, so anyone citing the older paragraph numbers is working from superseded guidance. Alternative provision can be named on an EHC plan, but it must not be used to substitute for the special school placement a plan calls for.

Children entering alternative provision are often out of school because of exclusion, mental or physical ill-health, or wider vulnerability, and many have a social worker or are looked-after. Your commissioning duties run alongside the section 19 duty: provision should be high-quality and registered where the law requires it, staff should be suitable and safeguarding-checked, and every placement should keep reintegration in view. For the SEND comparison, see what EOTAS is and when it applies, and for the wider duty, how section 19 works.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.