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Statutory guidance

Children missing education

Statutory guidance for local authorities and schools on how they work together to identify and support children missing education (CME) to receive a suitable education.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
26 November 2013
Last updated:
8 September 2025
Show all updates

  1. We have updated the statutory guidance. The update aims to address inconsistencies in practice and add clarity, including on schools and local authorities working together to identify and support children missing education. The document is now issued as statutory for schools as well as local authorities. Existing legislation already requires schools to carry out these responsibilities. We have also added a summary of responsibilities, and a policy and procedure checklist.

  2. Updated to bring the guidance in line with the Working together to improve attendance statutory guidance and the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.

  3. We've updated the guidance to help local authorities and schools meet the recent changes to the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006.

  4. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Children missing education: statutory guidance for local authorities and schools

HTML

Children missing education: summary of responsibilities

PDF, 367 KB, 11 pages

Children missing education: policy and procedure checklist

PDF, 292 KB, 4 pages

Details

This statutory guidance is for local authorities and schools. Statutory guidance is issued by law; you must follow it unless you have a good reason not to.

It applies to:

  • local authorities
  • local-authority-maintained schools
  • academies and free schools
  • independent schools
  • pupil referral units
  • alternative provision academies
  • non-maintained special schools

This guidance will help local authorities comply with their legal responsibilities to:

  • identify children missing education
  • support these children into suitable education

Other organisations or people helping children missing education will also find this guidance useful, including:

  • school leaders
  • school staff
  • governing bodies
  • youth offending teams
  • health professionals
  • the police

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