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Guidance

Regulating independent schools

How we regulate and intervene in independent schools, and details of when we take legal action against unregistered schools.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
19 January 2016
Last updated:
2 April 2026
Show all updates

  1. Updated 'Independent school standards guidance' to reflect current policy.

  2. 'Prosecuting unregistered independent schools’ statement updated to reflect current policy.

  3. Updated paragraph 31 of the policy statement.

  4. 'Independent school standards guidance' updated to include minor corrections to the wording of paragraphs 2.13 and 3.17.

  5. Added 'Independent school standards guidance' and 'Independent schools regulatory and enforcement policy statement'.

  6. Added 'Unregistered independent schools and out of school settings' document.

  7. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Independent school standards guidance

PDF, 1.67 MB, 60 pages

Independent schools: regulatory and enforcement action policy statement

Ref: Ref: DfE-00087-2019

PDF, 324 KB, 22 pages

Prosecuting unregistered independent schools

PDF, 88.2 KB, 5 pages

Details

Information for independent schools, including:

  • independent school standards
  • regulating and intervening in independent schools
  • when and why we take legal action against independent schools that are not registered

An independent school, also known as a private school:

  • is not funded by the government
  • is not a free school or academy
  • charges fees for attendance

We have published guidance for local authorities on unregistered schools and out of school settings.

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