The right of parents to home educate their children in accordance with their own beliefs is being threatened by the government’s proposed Children and Wellbeing Bill, currently being assessed in the House of Lords.
Emily Bourne, writing for Christian Concern, described the bill as a “clear attack on religious freedoms and parental rights”.
The bill mandates that all children not in school must be registered, and introduces a form of digital ID for minors. Every child would effectively be under state oversight, regardless of whether there are any safeguarding concerns about the child.
Local officials could be empowered to check on a family’s church attendance, education practices and religious teachings. Bourne warns that the bill could allow the state to declare Christian teaching “inappropriate or unsafe”.
She added, “Already, there are cases where parents have been pressured to affirm gender identities contrary to their faith, under threat of losing custody of their children.”
Parents found to have breached the proposed new regulations could face a fine or even jail time.
Conservative peer, Lord Wei, has also spoken against the bill.
“There is so much more to take issue with: from the lack of any appeal mechanism to the use of untrained officials to assess home education, to shocking real-world overreach by local authorities today, with families already documented under the current regime," he said.
"Let us not forget the deeply intrusive personal data this Bill collects—names, health histories, special needs records—stored indefinitely, with no credible guarantee of security as we enter the age of quantum computing.”
Bourne argued that the bill may well breach the Human Rights Act which is meant to protect the right of parents to educate their children in line with their religious views.
It has also been argued that the bill fundamentally alters society by making the state, rather than parents, primarily responsible for raising children.
"Fundamentally, this is about control over the next generation," said Bourne.
"Christian families must stand together, regardless of whether they home educate their own children or not, to defend these fundamental freedoms.
"All of us may need this freedom to take our children out of a state school, without fear of sanctions for doing so."
