<P> Secondly, Section 25 gave school boards the power to, if they chose, pay the fees of poor children attending voluntary (ie . church) schools . Although few school boards actually did so, the provision caused great anger among nonconformists, who saw this as local ratepayers' money being spent on Church of England schools . A large conference was held at Manchester in 1872 to lead resistance to the section, and one of the campaigners was the Birmingham politician Joseph Chamberlain, who emerged as a national figure for the first time . The resulting splits (some education campaigners, including Chamberlain, stood for Parliament as independent candidates) helped to cost the Liberals the 1874 election . </P> <P> The "Sandon Act" (Act of 1876) imposed a legal duty on parents to ensure that their children were educated . The Elementary Education Act 1880 (the "Mundella Act") required school boards to enforce compulsory attendance from 5 to 10 years, and permitted them to set a standard which children were required to reach before they could be employed . Poorer families were often tempted to send their children to work if the opportunity to earn an extra income was available . Attendance officers often visited the homes of children who failed to attend school, which often proved to be ineffective . Children who were employed were required to have a certificate to show they had reached the educational standard . Employers of these children who were unable to show this were penalised . </P> <P> The 1891 Elementary Education Act provided for the state payment of school fees up to ten shillings per head, making primary education effectively free . </P> <P> The Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act 1893 raised the school leaving age to 11 . The Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act of the same year extended compulsory education to blind and deaf children, and made provision for the creation of special schools . </P>

When did education become free in the uk