Yahoo News The area of Lancashire where the number of kids being home-schooled has gone up by 438%
The number of pupils in Lancashire who are educated at home has more than doubled in the last four years, new figures have revealed.
The BBC submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to all local education authorities in the UK. The figures show that councils received more than 66,000 notifications of children being moved to home education in 2023-2024 - up from 28,000 in 2019-2020.
Lancashire County Council acts as the local education authority for the majority of the county while the councils in Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool are responsible for their own education provision.
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The number of pupils registered as being home schooled in Blackburn with Darwen rose from 44 in 2020 to 237 in 2024 - a 438 per cent increase. Although the percentage increase is considerably greater than that in other parts of the county it should be noted that the starting figure - 44 - was significantly lower.
In Blackpool the number rose from 141 in 2020 to 379 in 2024 - an increase of 168 per cent. For the remainder of Lancashire, overseen by the county council, the number of home schooled pupils rose from 618 in 2020 to 1,653 in 2024 - an increase of 167 per cent.
Overall, across Lancashire, the number of pupils registered as being home schooled with the local education authority rose from 803 in 2020 to 2,269 in 2024 - an increase of 182 per cent.
The BBC's figures show that, across the UK:
at least 66,496 children moved to home education in 2023-2024. In 2019-20 the figure was 28,558
the North and Midlands saw the biggest percentage rises in England. At least 10,453 children moved to home education in 2019-20, compared to 27,502 in 2023-24
children moving to home education doubled in most regions, but more than tripled in the North East, and rose by 85% in the East of England
LancsLive has approached all three councils; Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Blackpool Council and Lancashire County Council, for a response to the figures. Their responses will be published in due course.
