Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Three reasons Bill slammed as 'act of vandalism' has been controversial
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- A new Bill heralding major changes for schools and child safeguarding recently passed its second reading
- The Leader of the Opposition this week grilled the Prime Minister about parts of it, some of which have also been raised in other corners
- Under the Bill, academies are poised to be brought into line with maintained schools in a few important ways
- Potential changes for home schooling families have also attracted some concern in the home education community
A fiery exchange in the House of Commons has highlighted concerns about parts of a new Bill, aimed at better protecting children in the education system.
The Government’s new Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill was introduced to Parliament last month, and passed its second reading earlier this month. While there are quite a few stages the expansive piece of legislation still needs to go through before it becomes law, it could mean far-reaching changes to both England’s school system and to safeguarding processes for children.
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Hide AdThis week, Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch challenged Keir Starmer on the Bill during PMQs (the Prime Minister's Question Time), describing it as an “act of vandalism” on a long-standing cross-party consensus on certain freedoms for England’s highly successful academies, The Guardian reports. Starmer hit back during the stand-off, touting its many potential benefits, such as “important provisions for protecting children, including a provision to stop abusers taking children out of school, and a unique identifier to ensure the whereabouts of all children”.
Among other criticisms, Badenoch claimed the Bill would cut salaries for thousands of teachers. This is just one facet of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill that has proven controversial in certain circles since it was first unveiled last month. Here are some of the concerns that have been raised, and what the Government has said about them so far:


What parts of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill have attracted controversy?
1. Restrictions on home schooling
Under the Bill, not all families would automatically have the right to home school their children, such as those subject to a child protection investigation or under a child protection plan.
This comes, in part, after the death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif. Her father and stepmother both received life sentences last month for her murder, after an ongoing campaign of abuse that saw her pulled out of school to home school in the months before her death. The Department for Education said that these measures would “ensure that the most vulnerable children cannot be withdrawn from school until it is confirmed that this would be in their best interests”.
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Hide AdLocal authorities will also have to create a register of children not enrolled in schools in their area - including those being home educated. Councils will have more power to act if they believe either the home environment or the education home-schooled children are receiving there to be unsuitable. This could even include demanding that they attend school.
Some in the home education community have raised concerns about this limiting options and freedom for parents. Educational Freedom - a non-profit that supports home educating families - described the proposed changes as “very scary” in a post on their website, saying the new local authority register and powers would be invasive, not respectful of most home education styles, or the child’s right to privacy.
They also had concerns about the potential of home visits by council staff to assess the learning environment, saying: “The home is the parent and child’s safe space, and no one should ever have the right of entry... [Children] should never feel uncomfortable in their own home, parents with anxiety will panic, and maybe then struggle to explain how the education is suitable, or how the home is suitable. If there are safeguarding concerns then [social services] already have the power to check on the home environment, this section is absolutely not necessary and massively open to misuse.”
2. Less freedom for academies
Currently, state-funded academies are able to have their own pay and conditions framework for teaching staff, and don’t have to follow the national curriculum. Both of these things could change under the new Bill.
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Hide AdConservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch claimed that this could end up cutting pay for 20 thousand UK teachers. However, a Downing Street spokesperson later told the BBC that a recent amendment to the Bill “makes very clear the government's intention to set a floor on pay but no ceiling so that all state school teachers can rely on the core pay offer”.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of School Trusts - which represents some 77% of England’s academies - earlier wrote that it was “very concerned” about the provisions which would remove academy freedoms. In a statement, the trust said that flexibility was part of the reason academies have been so successful.
It wanted to work with the government to make sure this wasn’t a step backwards. “For the purposes of this Bill, if we are to create an improving education system, all types of schools should now have the freedoms and flexibilities that have hitherto been reserved for the academy trust system.”
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Hide Ad3. Closing pathways into teaching
Under the Bill as it currently stands, all new teachers in state primary or secondary will have to have qualified teacher status from 2026 onwards - or at least be working towards it. In a blog post, the Department for Education wrote that high quality teaching was the factor within schools that made the biggest difference to a child’s education, “giving them the knowledge and skills to succeed throughout life”.
Badenoch also told the House of Commons that measure implied that “doctors are not sufficiently qualified to teach biology, that Olympic medallists can not teach PE”, according to the BBC. She accused the prime minister of closing routes into teaching.
Starmer responded during PMQs to say that this was not correct. It is also worth noting that one of Labour’s key educational priorities since the 2024 election has been to recruit thousands of new teachers in state schools.
To learn more about the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill and its other proposals, check out our previous coverage here. Or you have your say and let us know what you think about it by leaving a comment below.
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