Councils inexcusably supporting unregistered schools

Today, Ofsted has announced that it has investigated over 500 unregistered schools since 2016. 

It revealed that some councils had been paying to place their pupils in cheaper unregistered settings rather than registered alternative providers.
 
Commenting on the announcement Mike Storey, Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson in the House of Lords, said:
 
“It is simply beyond me how a local council could send a vulnerable or excluded child to an alternative provider without checking first that they registered. 

“It’s bad enough to be funding illegality, but frankly it is inexcusable to be putting the education and safety of our children at risk.
 
“The Government is rightly looking at how to maintain a register of children outside the school system. But we need a comprehensive review of legislation to strengthen the hand of councils and inspectors so that illegal schools become a thing of the past.”

On 27 March, Lord Storey highlighted the issue of unregistered alternative education providers during oral questions in the House of Lords. He warned that many unregistered providers had no safeguarding procedures or criminal checks in place.