Legal Update: Reforming alternative provision

On 17 March 2016 the Department for Education (DfE) released the white paper Educational Excellence Everywhere. The proposal for every maintained school to be an academy or be in the process of converting into an academy by 2020 dominated the headlines, but another significant proposal received much less media attention: reforming alternative provision. The government vision is to change the law so that mainstream schools, rather than the local authority, remain accountable for the education of pupils in alternative provision.

Alternative provision is education arranged for pupils who are out of school because of exclusion, illness or other reason, including pupils who are directed off-site to improve their behaviour. This often involves timetabled educational activities away from the school and can include placement in a pupil referral unit.