Deregulation Act 2015: What it means for schools and home school agreements

The purpose of the Deregulation Act 2015, which came into force in March 2015, was to reduce the burdens resulting from legislation. The changes brought about by the Act have come into force over a period of time since the Act’s implementation in March 2015.

In January 2016 another change was implemented affecting maintained schools, academies and free schools; the Deregulation Act 2015 removed the requirement for schools to have a home-school agreement or associated parental declarations in place.

The Department for Education’s guidance Behaviour and Discipline in Schools has been amended to take account of these changes and makes clear that whilst there is no longer a statutory obligation to have home school agreements, home school relations are still important. However, schools are now free to ‘determine how best to foster these relationships’.

Where a school considers a home school agreement to be beneficial to home school relations, a school may draw up a voluntary home school agreement covering, for example, the responsibility of each pupil’s parents and what the school expects of its pupils.