If you home educate, nobody is going to arrange your child's GCSEs for you. You find the exam centre, you make the entries, and you pay the fees. Local authorities across England are consistent on this: it is the family's responsibility, not a funded entitlement.

The money is usually manageable. Finding a centre that will take a private candidate is the part that catches families out, and it is the part that has a deadline attached.

Key Takeaways

• Parents arrange and pay. Councils are clear that exam costs sit with the family (JCQ).

• Finding a centre is the real constraint — most schools will not take external candidates, and some councils openly acknowledge the shortage.

• Expect roughly £180–£200 per subject at an external centre. Ours is £200 at GCSE.

• GCSE sciences are fine as a private candidate. It is A Level sciences that cause problems, because of the practical endorsement.

• Entries for summer 2027 close on 21 February 2027. Centres often set their own earlier cut-off.

Who arranges and pays for the exams?

You do. Councils across England say the same thing in slightly different words: as a home-educating family you are responsible for finding a centre, making the entries through it, and paying the fees. There is no duty on a local authority to fund exams for an electively home-educated child.

Some councils do more than others. A few, including Sandwell, publish a welcome pack for home educators that sets out how it works locally, and most have an elective home education team worth ringing before you start phoning centres yourself. Norfolk has gone further and partnered with its adult learning service to offer a limited number of places. These are local arrangements, not a national scheme, so what exists in one borough may not exist in the next.

It is also worth asking a centre whether any funding applies in the year you are entering. The Department for Education has at points paid a grant directly to centres for private candidate entries. It is paid to the centre rather than to you, availability changes, and nobody should plan around it — but it costs nothing to ask.

Why finding a centre is the hard part

Most schools do not accept private candidates. They have no obligation to, it creates work for an exams officer who is already stretched, and the risk sits with them rather than with you. Some councils acknowledge the shortage directly in their own guidance.

What that means in practice is that families often ring a long list before finding anywhere, and the ones who leave it until January find that the places have gone. The JCQ private candidates directory is the usual starting point, and we have listed what is available locally in private candidate exam centres in Birmingham and the Black Country, and your council's home education team will usually know which local centres are currently taking people.

When you do find one, ask three things: whether they take private candidates for the subjects you want, what their internal entry deadline is, and whether they can accommodate any access arrangements your child needs. The third is the one most often forgotten and the hardest to fix late.

Which subjects can be sat as a home-educated candidate?

Most of them, and there is a common misunderstanding worth clearing up.

GCSE sciences are straightforward. Biology, Chemistry and Physics at GCSE have no separate practical endorsement. The required practicals are assessed within the written papers, so a private candidate sits exactly the same exams as anyone else and is graded the same way.

A Level sciences are the problem. Those carry a separate practical endorsement, reported alongside the grade, which has to be assessed by a centre across the course. A private candidate cannot usually obtain it, which is why families often move to an international qualification at that level. We have written about that in detail in A Level science practicals as a private candidate.

Subjects with coursework or spoken assessments need checking individually. English Language has a spoken endorsement which is reported separately and does not affect the grade. Languages and arts subjects vary by board. For most families the core — Maths, English Language, English Literature and the sciences — is entirely sittable, and that is covered in which qualifications you can actually sit privately and in where you can sit your GCSE exams.

What does it cost?

External centres typically charge around £180 to £200 per subject. A school sitting its own pupils pays the board far less, often £40 to £50, but that reflects a school entering its own cohort — it is not a rate available to an outside family.

Our GCSE entry is £200 per subject, and A Level is £350. Five GCSEs therefore costs around £1,000 in entry fees, which is the figure worth planning against from the start rather than discovering in February. There is more on how the costs break down in how much it costs to sit a GCSE privately.

When do you need to be entered by?

Entries for the summer 2027 series close on 21 February 2027. Late fees apply after that, and higher fees again from 1 March.

Assume the centre's own deadline is earlier. Centres set internal cut-offs so their exams officer can process everything in time, and those are often weeks ahead of the board's date. Ask for it in writing when you book, and do not rely on the February date being what applies to you.

If you are aiming at summer 2027 and have not yet found a centre, autumn is the time to sort it, not January.

What we do

We are a registered exam centre as well as a tuition centre, on Lodge Road in West Bromwich. We enter private candidates and home-educated students for GCSE and A Level with AQA and OCR, and we are a short drive from Smethwick, Oldbury, Handsworth, Great Barr, Wednesbury, Walsall and Dudley.

You do not have to be taught by us to sit your exams with us. Plenty of families arrange their own teaching and simply need a centre. If you do want teaching, GCSE tuition is £150 a month for three hours a week in small weekend groups, and your child is then taught and examined in the same building.

For older students applying to university without a school behind them, we also provide mock examinations, evidence-based predicted grades and UCAS references — the three things a home-educating family cannot get anywhere else. Details are on our UCAS support page and our exam centre page.

Frequently asked questions

Will the council pay for my child's exams?

Generally no. Councils are consistent that exam costs are the family's responsibility when you electively home educate. A small number run local schemes or partnerships, so it is worth asking your own council's home education team, but plan on paying.

How many GCSEs should a home-educated child take?

Fewer than a school cohort, usually. Five is a common choice and covers most sixth form and college entry requirements. Taking them across two years rather than one is also entirely normal and often produces better grades than attempting nine at once.

Can my child sit exams without being taught by you?

Yes. We enter private candidates whether or not they study with us. Tell us the subjects and board when you enquire and we will confirm what we can offer.

What about access arrangements?

Possible, but raise it early. Access arrangements need evidence and have to be applied for well before the exam, and a centre cannot put them in place at short notice. If your child has previously had support in school, bring whatever documentation exists.

Is IGCSE better for home educators?

Sometimes, and mainly at A Level or for subjects with practical components. At GCSE the standard qualification is usually fine and is more widely recognised by sixth forms. Do not switch without a specific reason.

The short version

Arranging the exams is your job, the fees are yours, and the genuinely hard part is finding a centre that will take an external candidate. Budget around £200 a subject, sort the centre in the autumn rather than January, and check the centre's own deadline rather than the board's.

We take private candidates and home-educated students. Come and see us at Lodge Road on a Saturday or Sunday between 12:30pm and 2:00pm, or send us an enquiry and we will tell you what we can do for the subjects you need.

Sources: JCQ, Private candidates, retrieved 8 October 2026, jcq.org.uk. Local authority elective home education guidance (Sandwell, Suffolk, Cumberland, Kent, Norfolk, Nottingham City), retrieved 8 October 2026. AQA exam series guide 2026/27 for the 21 February 2027 entry deadline.