At the moment, section 19 of the Education Act 1996 allows children who are too unwell to go to school to access an alternative provision, including tuition from home. This ends at 16 years old. This needs to be amended to allow children up to 18 to access the same support.

Imagine finding yourself in a situation where your child is in Year 11 and so unwell that they cannot go to school. Section 19 allows that child to access an alternative provision from home. This ends when they are 16 years old. From then on, unless your child has an EHCP (Education Health Care Plan), your child will be expected to just access Further Education even when they are still unwell. I believe we need to extend current support to include children up to 18 years old.