Education and Skills Act 2008

92 Independent educational institutions

(1) For the purposes of this Chapter, “an independent educational institution” means—

(a) an independent school, or

(b) an institution other than an independent school which—

(i) provides part-time education for one or more persons of compulsory school age (“part-time students”) whether or not it also provides full-time education for any person, and

(ii) would be an independent school but for the fact that the education provided for the part-time student or students is part-time rather than full-time.

(2) For the purposes of this section, an institution provides “part-time” education for a person if it provides education for the person—

(a) for at least 12.5 hours a week, for at least 28 weeks, during an academic year at the end of which the person is under the age of 12, or

(b) for at least 15 hours a week, for at least 28 weeks, during an academic year at the end of which the person is aged 12 or over,

which does not amount to full-time education.

(3) Regulations may—

(a) provide that a specified institution or an institution of a specified description is not an independent educational institution by virtue of subsection (1)(b);

(b) provide that time spent on a specified activity or on an activity of a specified description is or is not to be treated as time during which education is being provided for the purposes of this section;

(c) amend subsection (2)(a) or (b) so as to substitute a different number of weeks for the number of weeks for the time being mentioned there.

(4) In this section—

• “an academic year” means a period of 12 months ending with 31 August;

• “specified” means specified in regulations under this section.