Do you have to let the LEA know you're moving from the area?

[chuzzledoll]

We're planning to move in the next couple of years and we've been registered with our LEA for a few years with annual visits.

My question is: are we supposed to inform the LEA that we're moving away from their area? The reason I ask is that I remember reading on an email group I'm in, that there was a newspaper article about children previously known to the LEA who had 'gone missing' (moved) and they were worried.
Does anybody remember anything about this?

I was under the impression you didn't have to tell the LEA you were moving - or the new LEA of the area you move in to. I suppose so the current LEA doesn't worry about children 'going missing' and trying to track you somehow you could inform them but then they might want to know where you are moving to. I depends how much LEA involvement you mind in your child's life whether you tell them or not. Equally you hear stories that LEA's don't concern themselves once a child has moved out the area.

If you have regular contact with them then it is probably best to let them know you are moving out of the area.

I would let them know out of courtesy, but I wouldn't bother telling them where we were moving to, or getting in touch with the new LA unless I was 100% certain they were 100% above board in their dealings with HEors.

We don't have to give them our new address or even area?
My LEA isn't good or bad, it's just (to the dc) a boring appointment we have once a year, they don't offer any help or support, pointless from our point of view.

Reading some of the threads on here and the terible LEAs and EWOs, I'd be wary of voluntarily registering us with another LEA!

terrible

"I remember reading on an email group I'm in, that there was a newspaper article about children previously known to the LEA who had 'gone missing' (moved) and they were worried."

It's down to the Children Missing Education legislation. Among other things, LAs are meant to cooperate by sharing information to track children around the country to try to ensure they don't stop being educated or suffer abuse, with a particular emphasis on vulnerable children such as those in care. Some people have argued that aspects of CME are an infringement on privacy, but it is the law and LAs must comply. However, children who are receiving a suitable education otherwise than at school (such as yours) are specifically excluded from this legislation; it doesn't apply to them. Many LAs - and certainly many journalists - seem not to understand this, and make out that home educated children who are not known to their LAs are at risk.

If your LA chooses to worry that they don't know where your children are, despite them not being under the remit of CME, then that's their concern and not yours. You certainly won't get into any trouble over it. You might feel that they had no right to take any close interest in your children in the first place!

"My LEA isn't good or bad, it's just (to the dc) a boring appointment we have once a year, they don't offer any help or support, pointless from our point of view."

Has your LA ever told you that these visits are optional? If not, if they have misled you into believing you're required to have them, then that's very irresponsible of them. Perhaps it isn't true that the LA is neither good nor bad! If you aren't getting any benefit from the annual contact with your current LA, you don't have to continue to go along with it. I imagine you can think of better ways to use your time than having boring pointless visits. You could write and tell them that you don't wish to have any further visits.

In the absence of any evidence to suggest that you aren't educating your children properly, it's arguable whether the LA ever has the right to receive any information from you whatsoever. Most HE families do choose to provide information as a one-off at least. The law is somewhat unclear on whether this is essential.

But the law is very clear that if the LA does not have any reasonable grounds for concern about your educational provision, there is no need for them to continue to take any interest in your children's education once you have provided them with the information in the first place. You've done that in the first visit you had, so (assuming they've never said your provision was unsatisfactory, or raised any serious issues) now you have definitely met any obligations you may have had.

Many LAs try to claim that they need annual contact with all HE families, but there is no legal basis for this. You could ask your LA on what basis they want to monitor you, and quote to them from the 2007 "Elective Home Education Guidance for Local Authorities" from DCSF. This is legally binding on LAs. "2.7 Local authorities have no statutory duties in relation to monitoring the quality of home education on a routine basis."