A BBC investigation reveals that the number of children being home educated in England has doubled in five years, with over 66,000 notifications recorded for 2023-2024. Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, expresses alarm that many families feel ‘forced’ into home education, often due to unmet special educational needs and insufficient school resources. The North East saw the most significant increase, with cases tripling. The government aims to reform the special educational needs system and establish registers for home-educated children to provide better support.