Council leaders have called for beefed up powers to enter homes and other premises as part of a crackdown on illegal schools.

There are concerns that unregistered schools are exploiting rules on home education, leading to poor quality schooling and the potential teaching of extremist views.

Chair of the Local Government Association's children and young people board, Cllr Richard Watts, said: ‘In some cases a child listed as home-schooled can, in fact, be attending an illegal school.

‘With limited powers to check on the work a child is doing, however, councils are unable to find out whether this is the case.

‘They work closely with their communities to help identify where illegal schools are, but the ability to enter homes and other premises and speak to children would go a long way towards tackling the problem.'

Ofsted recently found many illegal and unregistered schools were based in unsuitable and unsafe premises, with staff that have not gone through the relevant child safety checks.