Don't introduce unique child identifier and increased home education regulation

We urge the government not to introduce a single unique identifier number for children and increased regulation of home education. We think its proposals would infringe on children’s privacy and parental rights, especially as elective home education is not in itself a safeguarding risk.

We urge the rejection of proposals in the Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive paper to introduce a single unique identifier for children and more regulation of home education. We think these measures would infringe on children’s privacy and family rights, even though the paper acknowledges elective home education isn't in itself a safeguarding risk. We think these measures would also increase needless monitoring and could infringe on family freedoms and children’s rights.

These proposals, which are included in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, are central to the government’s ambition to promote the welfare of children, facilitate the provision of support and ensure that all children can achieve and thrive. The introduction of a single unique identifier for children is a Manifesto commitment.

Concerns about privacy should not be a barrier to the legitimate collection and sharing of information that would keep children safe or promote their education. The Department takes children’s rights and privacy very seriously. We have undertaken several detailed Impact Assessments to ensure that the proposals in the Bill support and safeguard these rights including a Child’s Rights Impact Assessment and Equalities Impact Assessment. Further, we have published a European Convention of Human Rights memorandum.

Keeping children safe from harm is a multi-agency endeavour. Practitioners supporting children and families must find, receive and share relevant information to assess risks effectively. That is why the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces provision in law now, paving the way for a Single Unique Identifier to be specified and the organisations required to use it, later, via regulations.

An identifier has potential to increase confidence that practitioners from different agencies are talking about the same child and increase the ease and possibility of linking data together across datasets. We want appropriate agencies and practitioners to spend less time chasing information and more time acting on the full picture of relevant information about the child. This will enable practitioners to provide the right services at the right time to meet the needs of children and families.