This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Allow 16 years olds to leave education after they have done THEIR GCSE
Hi I would like for the legal age to leave education to be 16 as I belive that 16 year olds should be able to make decisions on whether they want to stay in education.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
We can't publish petitions when the request is something that's already happening or something that has been announced since you started your petition.
We think your petition is covered by Government or Parliament action already. If you'd like something else, you could start a new petition clearly explaining what it is.
You can already leave school on the last Friday in June if you’ll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays. They then must do one of the following until they're 18:
- stay in full-time education, for example at a college
- start an apprenticeship or traineeship
- spend 20 hours or more a week working or volunteering, while in part-time education or training
We could accept a petition calling on the Government to remove requirements to be in education, start an apprenticeship or traineeship, or spend 20 hours or more a week working or volunteering, while in part-time education or training, for people once they reach school leaving age.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.