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Children Who Go Missing from Home or Care, or who are Vulnerable to Exploitation

Scope of this chapter

Circumstances Covered by the Procedures

This section provides procedures that apply to:

  • All children missing education and Children in Education other than in Registered Schools; and
  • Specific welfare concerns about a missing child or family.

And should be read in conjunction with the Children and Young People Who Go Missing form Home or Care, or Who are Vulnerable to Exploitation Procedure.

PLEASE NOTE

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

The Bill has received its first reading in the House of Commons as of December 2024. It addresses many of the issues raised in this chapter.

A Bill to make provision about the safeguarding and welfare of children; about support for children in care or leaving care; about regulation of care workers; about regulation of establishments and agencies under Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000; about employment of children; about breakfast club provision and school uniform; about attendance of children at school; about regulation of independent educational institutions; about inspections of schools and colleges; about teacher misconduct; about Academies and teachers at Academies; repealing section 128 of the Education Act 2002; about school places and admissions; about establishing new schools; and for connected purposes.

The Bill, if passed, will have a significant effect on matters covered in this chapter as well as other chapters and manuals each of which will be amended as and when the Bill is finalised and passes into legislation.

Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) Thematic Reviews of Children Not in School in Local Areas 

Ofsted and the CQC will be carrying out visits between spring and summer to look in depth at the experiences of children with SEND who are of compulsory school age but are not registered at any type of independent or state-funded school.

The visits will also consider the experiences of children who are on a school roll but are flexi-schooled on a part-time timetable, receiving education otherwise than at school, or are severely absent to better understand:

  • How local area partnerships work together to meet the needs of children not in school across health, education and children’s social care
  • The reasons why children with SEND leave full-time education, and what schools are doing to support them to remain in school
  • The role and impact of local authorities in supporting children with SEND to receive a suitable education
  • The role and impact of social care in supporting children with SEND who are not in school and are in need of help and protection
  • The role and impact of health providers in meeting the health needs of children with SEND who are not in school
  • How local authorities support children not in school, particularly hard-to-reach children and families, including where there are safeguarding concerns
  • Parents’, children’s, practitioners’ and leaders’ views about why children are not in school and how their needs are being met

Ofsted and CQC will look at how local area partnerships are working to meet the needs of these children and the availability of universal and specialist health services. Inspectors will also consider the reasons why children are not in full-time education and what is being done to support them to attend school. 

For the details of how ‘Thematic reviews of children not in school in local areas’ will be undertaken please read:

Thematic reviews of children not in school in local areas

Related guidance

Amendment

This chapter was updated in May 2025 to bring it into line with Children Missing Education (August 2024). The changes are technical updates only to bring the guidance in line with the Working together to improve attendance statutory guidance and the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024. It also highlights pending legislation: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and brings to the attention of readers Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) Thematic Reviews of Children Not in School in Local Areas which will be undertaken in 2025.

May 21, 2025

According to LEA/0225/2004 'Identifying and Maintaining Contact with Children Missing or at Risk of Going Missing from Education', there should be a 'child missing from education' (CME) named point of contact in every local authority and every practitioner working with a child has a responsibility to inform that CME if they know or suspects that a child is not receiving education.

See also the local guidance about Children Missing from Education on the Hertsdirect website and Children Missing Education: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities (DfE, August 2024).

Schools should monitor attendance closely and address poor or irregular attendance. It is important that pupils' poor attendance is referred to the local authority.

In order to monitor attendance the school must ensure that an admission register is kept.

The school must ensure that a register is kept electronically and that a back-up copy of that register is made at least once a month in the form of an electronic or printed copy. The amendments set out the requirements of the register. It also sets out the rules regarding deletion of names from the register.

Key issues: A child is off register if:

  • They are attending another school or schools and there is no school attendance order requiring attendance at that school;
  • A parent of the pupil has told the school in writing that the pupil will no longer attend the school after a certain day and will receive education otherwise than at school;
  • The pupil has not attended the school within the ten school days immediately after the end of the period of leave;
  • Reasonable efforts have been made to find the pupils location but they have not been found or are refusing to attend and there is little or no likelihood of them attending;
  • There is continuous absence for 20 or more days;
  • The pupil has been sentenced to detention at his majesty’s pleasure;
  • The pupil has been permanently excluded;
  • The Local Authority agrees the pupil is no longer attending the school.

Should a child leave a Hertfordshire school without notice being given by the parent or without the school being advised by the parent of the new address and/or school the child is to attend, the school should notify their allocated Attendance Improvement Officer (AIO) as soon as possible:

Where a pupil has not returned to school for ten consecutive school days after a leave of absence or is absent from school for reasons statistically recorded as unauthorised absence for twenty consecutive school days, the pupil’s name can be removed from the admission register when the school and the local authority have failed, after jointly making reasonable enquiries, to find out the location and circumstances of the child or have succeeded but agree there are no reasonable grounds to believe that they will attend the school again. In deciding there are no reasonable grounds to believe the pupil will attend the school again both school and local authority must agree, including that there are no reasonable steps that could be taken (either jointly or separately) to secure the pupil’s attendance. Neither ground for deletion applies if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the pupil is unable to attend because of sickness or an unavoidable cause.

In these circumstances the child's name is kept on a centrally held register, and should be clearly identified as missing from education.

The term ‘reasonable’ also makes clear that there is a limit to what the school and local authority is expected to do.

In line with the duty under section 10 of the Children Act 2004, the expectation is that the school and the local authority will have in place procedures designed to carry out reasonable enquiries. The type of procedures may include the appropriate person checking with relatives, neighbours, landlords – private or social housing providers – and other local stakeholders who are involved. They should also record that they have completed these procedures. If there is reason to believe a child is in immediate danger or at risk of harm, a referral should be made to children’s social care (and the police if appropriate).

  • The Attendance Improvement Officer will work with the school to make reasonable enquiries to try to identify the child's whereabouts;
  • If after four weeks, enquiries fail to locate the child the school should remove the child's name from its roll and create a 'lost' common transfer file CTF. XXX should be used as the destination local authority and XXXX as the destination school number. Each file should hold information on only one pupil. This lost CTF should be immediately uploaded onto the Department of Education s2s secure site where it should be held in the 'Lost Pupil Database ‘XXX XXXX’  should only be used when the school has no knowledge of the pupil's destination;
  • When a pupil moves to a non-maintained school or one outside England and Wales, the school should use ‘MMMMMMM’ as the destination code. This enables the CTF to be stored securely and to be available if the pupil returns to a maintained school;
  • Should a pupil leave a Hertfordshire school to be home educated, on receiving written confirmation from the parent(s), the school should remove their name from the school roll and send the CTF to the s2s Database using MMMMMMM, so that the CTF goes into the database of pupils who have moved outside the maintained system this does not apply to special schools;
  • The number of home-educated children in England is increasing. Most parents who home educate do so in their children’s best interests, and many home-educated children receive a suitable education that supports them to thrive. However, there are concerns that not all children educated at home are being educated properly and that some are at risk of or suffering harm. Increasingly, parents of children with complex needs are choosing to home educate and may not be well prepared or equipped to provide a suitable education. As there is currently no duty on parents to notify local authorities when they are home educating, local authorities are unlikely to be aware of all the children not in school in their areas, including those who are not receiving a suitable education or those who are at risk of harm. Therefore, some children may be spending long periods of time receiving unsuitable education or, in some cases, no education at all, without intervention; and there are also children who may be in unsafe home environments and under the radar of practitioners that are there to protect them. There is an urgent need for local authorities to be able to better identify these children and, if a child is not receiving a suitable education or is at risk of harm, to take action to help them back into school or to take other necessary steps to safeguard them. NOTE There is also a growing trend for Flexi Schooling whereby the child is in school for part of the time and at home for some time too;
  • Should a pupil join a Hertfordshire school without that school receiving a CTF from their previous school, the receiving school should contact the 'Lost Pupil Coordinator' and request that a search be made of the Lost Pupil Database for a matching record using gender, names or former names and date of birth. Schools cannot search the lost pupil database;
  • Should a Hertfordshire school which has previously sent a lost child CTF to the Lost Pupil Database be subsequently contacted by a school at which the lost child has subsequently registered, the:
    • School which sent the CTF to the Lost Pupil Database should create a new CTF file and send it to the receiving school and request the Lost Pupil Coordinator to download the original CTF from the Lost Pupils database and delete it; and
    • Receiving school should request its own LA to download the original CTF from the Lost Pupils Database.

These procedures will only be effective if all schools adhere to the principle that whenever a pupil joins or leaves a school then a common transfer file must accompany them.

Further information on the transfer of a CTF can be found on teachernet.

EOTAS is education that meets the specified needs of children or young people who, for whatever reason, cannot attend a mainstream or special school because it is deemed ‘inappropriate’. The term has been considered in the case of TM v London Borough of Hounslow, which clarified that it would have to take into account:

  • The child’s background and medical history;
  • The particular educational needs of the child;
  • The facilities that can be provided by a school;
  • The facilities that could be provided other than in a school;
  • The comparative cost of the possible alternatives to the child’s educational provisions;
  • The child’s reaction to education provisions, either at a school or elsewhere;
  • The parents’ wishes.

 in addition medical issues, serious exclusion matters or significant mental health issues that make attendance extremely difficult will also have to be considered. Generally this type of provision is likely to include among the options offered:

  • Online Education;
  • Home Tuition;
  • Specialist Tuition Centres;
  • Hospital schooling.

Any of these options can take place in non-educational settings i.e. a library for example. They should all be treated as special education provision and funded accordingly by the Local Authority.

These procedures apply if a child in the following circumstances goes missing or cannot be traced:

  • A child who is the subject of a Child Protection Plan and who goes missing or is removed from their address outside the terms of the Child Protection Plan;
  • A child subject of a child protection referral or Section 47 Enquiry;
  • A child looked after who leaves or is removed from placement, without this being part of the Care Plan;
  • Any child known to a statutory agency who goes missing in suspicious circumstances or about whom there are concerns - e.g. one who is subject to an Assessment, where there are developing concerns about their safety.

These procedures also apply to adults whose whereabouts become unknown in the following circumstances:

  • A pregnant woman when there are concerns about the welfare of the child following birth (and where the unborn baby's name may or may not be subject to a Child Protection Plan);
  • A family where there are concerns about the welfare of the child because of the presence of an individual who poses a risk to children or other person suspected of previously harming a child.

Local agencies and professionals, working with children and families where there are outstanding child protection concerns, must bear in mind that unusual non-school attendance, missed appointments, or abortive home visits, may indicate the family has moved out of the area.

This possibility must also be borne in mind when there are concerns about an unborn child who may be at an increased likelihood of suffering significant harm.

In any of the circumstances listed above all agencies who become aware that the child, pregnant woman or family are missing must alert the responsible Children's Services social worker immediately.

All reasonable steps need to be taken immediately to locate a missing child and alert other agencies with whom they may have contact.

Existing records in these agencies must be checked to obtain any information, which might help trace the missing child, e.g. details of friends and relatives.

The case needs to remain open and active steps must be taken to try to trace the child by visiting the last known address, checking with family members, any individuals known to hold parental responsibility and neighbours, if appropriate.

The following steps will need to be taken in all cases:

  • A 'need to know' needs to be sent detailing the circumstances, (procedure in Children's Services Good Guide, form Children's Services 3645 on Connect);
  • Child(ren) or family need to be reported missing to uniformed Police (who will alert Joint Child Protection Investigation Team (JCPIT)) if it is one child of the family missing, it may be most appropriate for the parents to do this, however it needs to be done as a matter of urgency, thus if the parents delay, Children's Services staff need to ensure it is done;
  • All members of the Core Group need to be updated and asked for any information they have about child(ren)'s possible whereabouts - and anything leant should be passed to the Police;
  • All relevant other local authorities must be notified (pass details of the nature and category of concerns, and key dates to the Child Protection Administrator, tel: 01992 556935, comnet 56935 who will do this - they will also notify Health Trusts in Hertfordshire);
  • Hospitals need to be notified, either locally or nationally according to the circumstances (if a pregnant woman whose unborn child is subject of a Child Protection Plan goes missing);
  • It may be helpful to bring forward the Review Conference so as to update all agencies and to revise the Child Protection Plan (in this case, the Police officer in the case should be asked to attend).

Health records for all members of the family who are missing need to be tagged so that if their records are requested Health will be notified. The Lead Social Worker/Social Worker should contact the health representative (health visitor / school nurse) for missing children and ask them to do this and to ensure GP records for all family members (including parents) who are missing are flagged.

If the child is of school age, a note should be posted on the Department for Education database indicating the circumstances (e.g. subject of a Child Protection Plan), that they has left their previous school and are currently missing. Anyone contacted about a school place for the child should then contact the social worker. The Principal Attendance Improvement Officer can assist (tel: 01992 588580 comnet 28580).

If the family is missing, or the child is of age to claim benefits, themselves, the Department of Works & Pensions (DWP) need to be notified and asked to alert Children's Services if the family attempt to claim benefits.

If the child or family are known to the UK Border Agency, it should be notified of the status of the child(ren) and asked to contact Children's Services if it subsequently has any contact with the family.

If the family remain missing and all reasonable steps have been taken a child(ren)'s name(s) may, with the agreement at a Review Child Protection Conference be removed from the List of Children Subject of a Child Protection Plan.

When a child is found, there should, if practicable, be a Strategy Discussion within one working day between previously involved agencies to consider:

  • Immediate safety issues;
  • Whether to instigate a Section 47 Enquiry;
  • Any Police investigation of any allegations of crime;
  • Who will interview the child if part of a Section 47 Enquiry;
  • Who will interview the child if not a Section 47 Enquiry;
  • Who (local and national) needs to be informed of the child's return.

Any child found following a period missing should, regardless of whether they are believed to have suffered, or be at risk of suffering, significant harm be offered an interview by a social worker and/or a Police officer or an independent person. This interview should provide a safe opportunity for the child to discuss any concerns regarding their care including if they chose to run away from an abusive situation. It must take place without parents, foster carers or residential staff either present or in close proximity.

If the child indicates a wish to be interviewed by an alternative professional, all reasonable efforts must be made to accommodate their wishes.

If the child has been found outside of the local authority and is not likely to return, representatives of the 'receiving' authority must be involved in this Strategy Discussion and the transfer of the case must be discussed.

If the child is 'looked after', the Children's Services Team Manager must decide and record whether to bring forward the next Looked After Review.

If the child is subject of a Child Protection Plan, the Team Manager must decide and record whether to bring forward the next Review Conference.

Where a Section 47 Enquiry has taken place, the Children's Services, the Police Joint Child Protection Investigation Team (JCPIT) and other involved agencies must have a final Strategy Discussion to agree the outcome, including any need for a Child Protection Conference.

The social worker and Team Manager must give explicit consideration to any need for legal action, and record the reasons for their decision.

Last Updated: May 21, 2025

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