Education Otherwise has been putting complaints in writing to Birmingham Council since August 2004 concerning the Council's use of the term "Education Otherwise" or "Educating Otherwise". The lack of action from Birmingham Council over a period of six years and the failure to share information is symptomatic of an over-stretched under-staffed department. Read the full article here.

Birmingham safeguarding board website now displays this wording: "References to "Educating Otherwise" and "Education Otherwise" contained within this Review refer to "Birmingham City Council's Elective Home Education Advice Service" and not the Registered Charity 1055120 "Education Otherwise Association Ltd."" We are in discussion with the authority about the use of the registered name "Education Otherwise" in the Serious Case Review report.

A spokesperson for the leading Home Education charity, Education Otherwise reacted with dismay at the confusion in the Serious Case Review into the death of Khyra Ishaq. Ian Matthews, Media Spokesperson said, "Despite the agreement of the courts in March, Birmingham City Council are still persisting in causing confusion in the media by using the name Education Otherwise. Criticism intended for Birmingham council in the Serious Case Review appears instead to be directed at the home education support charity. We will be advised by our lawyers on how to proceed." See full press release.

Following a number of security breaches with official databases in 2007, including the Child Benefit records, the Government commissioned Deloitte to carry out a risk assessment. When the report was delivered it identified a number of serious risk areas. The Government then refused to release anything beyond the Executive Summary. The report has finally been released into the public domain under the Freedom of Information Act and may be found here via this page. The Coalition Government has announced that ContactPoint will be scrapped.