Insurance, Safeguarding and DBS Checks for UK Home Education Groups

There's no single rule that says a UK home education group must carry insurance. The insurer Markel suggests public liability cover for any community group that deals with the public, and notes that most landlords and councils want to see it before you hire a room. If the group ever employs a teacher, GOV.UK says employers' liability insurance is required from day one. On safeguarding, the rules changed on 1 September 2026: unpaid volunteers who teach or supervise children frequently can now be in regulated activity even when someone else is supervising them. This page describes what those organisations say. It isn't advice, so check with an insurer or a solicitor before you decide anything for your group.

Does a home education group need insurance in the UK?

Picture a Thursday in a village hall. Six families, a circle of chairs, a verse and a song with the youngest children. A table set up for wet-on-wet painting, with jars of water and wide brushes. Knitting needles in a basket for handwork. In December, a candle for each child to carry round the Advent spiral. Most weeks nothing goes wrong. Now and then a child trips over a bag, or a jar of blue water goes over the hall's new carpet.

That's the kind of thing public liability cover is for. The insurer Markel describes it as protection against claims that someone was injured, or their property damaged, because of the group. It says "all community groups that deal with members of the public should consider taking out public liability insurance," and calls it "relatively inexpensive." Markel doesn't describe it as a legal requirement. A group made up only of families who know each other may feel it doesn't deal with the public at all. That's exactly the kind of question to put to an insurer, with your real group described.

Community group insurers usually offer a package. PolicyBee lists public liability, trustee cover, employers' and volunteers' liability and equipment cover among its options, with policies starting from £112 a year including tax. That's one firm's starting price, not a guide to what your group will pay.

The hall will probably ask first

For many groups the question arrives from the venue, not from the law. Markel says "most landlords or local authorities will require your group to have public liability insurance before allowing you to rent somewhere or hold an event." A church hall, a Scout hut or a room at a community farm may each want to see a certificate, and some will ask to be named on your policy.

When you first ring a venue, ask what they need in writing before you print the term's dates. Our guide to where a co-op can meet has the other questions worth asking a hall. If you meet in someone's home instead, ask the host's own insurer, in an email, whether a weekly group of several families is covered. Describe the real group: how many families, how often, and what the children do.

If you pay someone to teach: employers' liability

Some groups bring in a paid handwork teacher for a term, or a eurythmist once a month. GOV.UK says you must get employers' liability insurance "as soon as you become an employer," with cover of "at least £5 million," and that you can be fined £2,500 for every day you aren't properly insured. There are exemptions, including employing only a family member.

Whether a self-employed teacher who invoices the group makes the group an employer is a legal question. Ask a solicitor or an insurer before the first lesson, not after. Markel adds that most insurers cover a group's volunteers under employers' liability, though some cover them under public liability instead. Ask which your policy does.

What changed for DBS checks on 1 September 2026

Until this autumn, an unpaid volunteer teaching or supervising children wasn't in regulated activity if someone who was in regulated activity supervised them. GOV.UK says that exemption was removed on 1 September 2026. Now "all such activity is now considered to be regulated activity if it is carried out frequently." It says volunteers are the main group affected.

The DBS leaflet on regulated activity sets the time test for most activities: "on more than 3 days in a 30-day period, or once overnight between 2am and 6am" with the chance of face-to-face contact. Someone in regulated activity needs an enhanced DBS check with a check of the children's barred list.

Two lines in the guidance matter for a parent-led group:

• GOV.UK says "parents or carers who help out occasionally will not need to get an enhanced DBS check with children's barred list information."
• The DBS leaflet says regulated activity "excludes any activities carried out in the course of family relationships or as part of any personal, non-commercial relationships."

A small group where each parent stays and looks after their own children sits somewhere near those lines. A group where two parents take all the children for the morning while the rest go shopping sits somewhere else. We can't tell you which side your group is on. How you run the morning makes a real difference here, and our piece on drop-off or parents staying is a good place to think it through. Then check your roles against the DBS eligibility guidance on GOV.UK, or ask a solicitor.

Who can get a check, and what it costs

GOV.UK describes four levels:

• A basic check shows unspent convictions and conditional cautions. Anyone 16 or over can apply, and it costs £21.50.
• A standard check shows spent and unspent convictions and cautions.
• An enhanced check shows the same, plus information held by local police.
• An enhanced check with barred lists adds whether the person is barred from working with children or adults.

Standard and enhanced checks are usually requested by an employer or voluntary organisation, often through a registered umbrella body. GOV.UK says people can "sometimes" request an enhanced check for themselves. NCVO warns that, above the basic level, "it's an offence to knowingly carry out a criminal check if you're not entitled to," so don't ask for checks on roles that aren't eligible.

GOV.UK says standard and enhanced checks are free for people who meet its definition of a volunteer. That definition is someone giving time unpaid "to benefit some third party other than, or in addition to, a close relative." A role that mainly benefits your own child may not count. The organisation that submits the check can still charge its own admin fee.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

GOV.UK says there are different rules for criminal record checks in Scotland and in Northern Ireland. In Scotland, Disclosure Scotland runs the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. Its job is to keep people who are unsuitable to work with children out of regulated roles. mygov.scot says it's "a legal requirement to join the PVG scheme if you're going to do a regulated role." That applies to volunteers as well as staff. In Northern Ireland, follow the guidance GOV.UK links to. Our UK homeschooling guide covers how the four nations differ on home education itself.

A safeguarding policy, even for a small group

The NSPCC says that "if your organisation or group works with children or young people you must have a clear set of guidelines about how you will keep children safe [and] respond to child protection concerns." It suggests naming the people responsible for safeguarding in the policy, with their contact details, and reviewing it "at least once a year or whenever significant changes or a local incident occurs." For a group of six or eight families, the policy can be one page. A starting outline to change as you like:

• Who we are: a parent-led home education group. Parents stay and look after their own children (change this if yours don't).
• Our safeguarding lead: one named parent, plus a second as backup, with phone numbers.
• If a child tells you something worrying: listen, don't promise secrecy, write down what was said and tell the lead the same day.
• If you think a child is in danger right now: call 999.
• Who is with the children: which roles have checks, if any, and who decided.
• Photos: nobody shares photos of other people's children online without their parents' yes.
• Review: every September, at the first meeting of the year.

Put the final version in your co-op handbook so every new family reads it.

What to take to an insurer or solicitor

Before you call, write down:

• how many families and children, and their ages
• where you meet, how often, and whether the venue wants to be named on the policy
• what the children actually do: painting, handwork with needles, whittling or festival candles
• whether parents stay, or some parents look after other people's children
• whether anyone is paid to teach, and how
• whether you're an informal group or a registered charity or association

Then ask what each policy covers, what it leaves out, and whether it covers your volunteers. If you're looking for other Waldorf-inspired families nearby to share the work with, the Waldorf Map lists groups and schools. For the wider picture, see our co-ops and pods guide, and for how the same questions look in America, our US co-op insurance guide.

None of this is legal or insurance advice. The organisations quoted here describe their own products and guidance. For a decision about your own group, an insurer or a solicitor is the person to ask.