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School attendance and absence


This page provides information about the law on school attendance and the powers of the local authority in enforcing school attendance.

There is Department for Education guidance on school attendance and absence titled ‘Working together to improve school attendance’.

There is also supplementary guidance titled ‘Summary of responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance’.

What is compulsory school age?

A child is of compulsory school age at the beginning of the 1st term after their 5th birthday, so:

  • children who turn 5 between 1st January and 31st March will be of compulsory school age at the beginning of the school term after 31st March;
  • children who turn 5 between 1st April and 31st August will be of compulsory school age at the beginning of the school term after 31st August;
  • children who turn 5 between 1st September and 31st December will be of compulsory school age at the beginning of the school term after 31st December.

A child remains of compulsory school age until the last Friday in June of the school year in which they turn 16. Young people are then required to remain in education, employment or training until their 18th birthday.

Who is considered a parent in education law?

Section 576 Education Act 1996 defines a parent widely to include:

  • a biological parent of the child (even if they do not have parental responsibility and even if the child does not reside with that parent);
  • Any person who is not a parent but has parental responsibility for the child, such as through a residence order, child arrangements order, special guardianship order, step-parent responsibility order, or adoption order.
  • someone who has care of the child. A person typically has care of a child or young person if the child lives with them either full or part time and they look after them, irrespective of what their biological or legal relationship is with the child.

What is the law on school attendance?

Section 7 Education Act 1996 outlines the duty of parents to secure education for children of compulsory school age. This doesn’t mean the child must attend school – home education can be a valid option to fulfill this requirement.

The education must be:

  • full-time;
  • efficient – the education must achieve what it sets out to achieve;
  • suitable  – to their age, ability and aptitude and any special educational needs they may have. The education must equip the child for life within the community and must not limit a child’s options in later life. 

If parents choose to have their child registered in school, they have an additional legal duty to ensure their child attends regularly. This means the child must attend every school day, except in a few allowed circumstances, such as illness or if the school allows permission for an absence in advance.

Admission register

All schools, including independent schools, must maintain an admission register, and all schools, except boarding schools, must maintain an attendance register.

The admission register (also referred to as the school roll) must contain specific personal details of every pupil in the school along with their starting date, information regarding parents, and details of the school last attended. The school must ensure that the name of each pupil at the school is entered in the school’s admission register on the pupil’s starting day, before or at the beginning of the first school session on that day, in accordance with Regulation 8 The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.

Attendance register

Schools must take the attendance register at the start of each morning session of each school day and once during each afternoon session. On each occasion they must record whether each registered pupil is physically present in school or, if not, the reason they are not in school by using the appropriate national attendance and absence codes from Regulation 10 of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.

A school will generally authorise an absence if:

  • The child is too ill to attend and the school accepts this as valid. Schools are not expected to routinely request that parents provide medical evidence to support illness absences. Schools should only request reasonable medical evidence in cases where they need clarification to accurately record absence in the attendance register – i.e. making a decision that code I is the absence code that accurately describes the reason the pupil is not in school for the session in question. In the majority of cases a parent’s notification that their child is too ill to attend school will be that evidence and can be accepted without question or concern. Only where the school has genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness should medical evidence be requested to support the absence;
  • The child is absent on a day that is exclusively set apart for religious observance;
  • The child has a medical or dental appointment;
  • The child is on study leave;
  • The child is being educated off-site;
  • The child has been excluded.

All schools can grant a leave of absence for other exceptional circumstances at their discretion. Schools are then expected to consider each application individually taking into account the specific facts and circumstances and relevant background context behind the request. If a leave of absence is granted, it is for the school to determine the length of the time the pupil can be away from school.

Providing information to the local authority

Schools must provide the local authority with the names and addresses of all pupils of compulsory school age who fail to attend school regularly or have been absent for a continuous period of ten school days where their absence has been recorded with one or more of the codes statistically classified as unauthorised.

Schools must also provide the local authority with the full name and address of all pupils of compulsory school age who have been recorded with code I (illness) and who the school has reasonable grounds to believe will miss 15 days consecutively or cumulatively because of sickness

Can I book a holiday during term time?

Headteachers will only authorise holidays during term time in exceptional circumstances. Parents should submit their request in writing to the school as soon as possible. If a child is taken on holiday without the headteacher’s authorisation, the parent may be liable to pay a fine and/or face prosecution for non-attendance. 

The DfE guidance does state that generally the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance.

What sanctions can be put in place for non-attendance?

As absence is often a symptom of wider issues a family is facing, schools, trusts, and local authorities should always work together with other local partners to understand the barriers to attendance and provide support. Where this is not successful or not engaged with, the law protects pupils’ right to an education and provides a range of legal interventions to formalise attendance improvement efforts. Legal interventions for attendance can only be used for pupils of compulsory school age, and decisions should be made on an individual case-by-case basis.

A Notice to Improve is a final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before a penalty notice is issued. If the national threshold has been met and support is appropriate but offers of support have not been engaged with by the parent or have not worked, a Notice to Improve should usually be sent to give parents a final chance to engage in support.

Fixed-penalty notice

Parents can be issued a Fixed Penalty Notice by the local authority for their child’s non-attendance. The penalty is £80, which rises to £160 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days. Each local authority should publish a ‘Code of Conduct’ for Fixed Penalty Notices.

Penalty notices are intended to prevent the need for court action and should only be used where it is deemed likely to change parental behaviour and support to secure regular attendance has been provided and has not worked or been engaged with, or would not have been appropriate in the circumstances of the offence (e.g. an unauthorised holiday in term time). 

All state funded schools must consider whether a penalty notice for absence is appropriate in each individual case where one of their pupils reaches the national threshold for considering a penalty notice. Schools should not have a blanket position of issuing or not issuing penalty notices and should make judgements on each individual case to ensure fairness and consistency across the country. The threshold is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks.

There is no right of appeal against a Fixed Penalty Notice. If this is not paid, the local authority can proceed to prosecution or withdraw the notice. The Local Authority can also prosecute parents for non-attendance without issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice. Only the local authority can prosecute parents and they must fund all associated costs. Local authorities must conduct its investigations in line with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE).

Prosecution

If a registered pupil of compulsory school age fails to attend school regularly, the parent could be guilty of an offence under section 444 Education Act 1996. In April 2017, the Supreme Court held that attending school "regularly" means attendance in accordance with the rules prescribed by the school and not "sufficiently frequent attendance". This means that a child must attend school on every day that the school requires him or her to do so and failure to do this may lead to the commission of an offence.

There are 2 offences:

  1. Section 444(1) Education Act 1996: If the child is absent without authorisation then the parent is guilty of an offence. This is a strict liability offence i.e. all that needs to be shown is a lack of regular attendance. Sanctions can include a fine of up to £1,000.
  2. Section 444(1A) Education Act 1996: an aggravated offence. If the child is absent without authorisation and the parent knew about the child’s absence and failed to act then the parent is guilty of an offence. Sanctions can include a fine of up to £2,500 and a prison sentence of up to 3 months.

There are some limited defences to these offences:

  • The head teacher authorised the absence.
  • The child could not attend because of sickness or ‘unavoidable cause’ in an emergency. Case law has held that stress arising from bullying, behavioural or mental health difficulties or a ‘chaotic lifestyle’ should not be considered an ‘unavoidable cause’.
  • The child was absent on a day exclusively set apart for religious observance.
  • The school is outside of the statutory walking distance of the child’s home and the Local Authority has a duty to make travel arrangements in relation to the child under and has failed to discharge that duty.
  • The child is not registered at the school and the parents are providing a suitable alternative education.
  • The parents’ trade or business requires them to travel from place to place.

Parents can also be prosecuted by local authorities under Section 103 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 if a pupil of compulsory school age, who remains on the admission register, is found in a public place during school hours after being excluded from school. Sanctions can include a fine of up to £1,000.

I have received a summons to the Magistrates Court – what should I do?

Once a summons has been issued, we can only provide limited advice, as the matter is governed by criminal law rather than education law.

If a parent has received a summons for court for one of the above offences, they should seek the advice of a criminal solicitor and check whether they qualify for criminal legal aid. Some courts provide duty solicitors, who may be able to advise and represent them at a hearing, usually if there is a risk of imprisonment.

Can I ask for help in getting my child to attend school

Attendance support

All local authorities are expected to have a School Attendance Support Team that works with all schools in its area. In the majority of cases, pupils will be supported in school, but where there are multiple issues requiring other service involvement, schools, local authorities, and other services should work together to provide more intensive whole family support to address them as soon as it becomes clear they would benefit from it.

Parenting contract

If a parent is finding it difficult to get their child to attend school, they can ask the local authority and school to help. Parents can agree a plan to help improve their child’s attendance which can result in drawing up a ‘Parenting Contract’ under Section 19 Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003. A parenting contract is a formal written agreement between a parent and either the school (with the exception of Independent schools and non-maintained special schools) or local authority to address irregular attendance at school or alternative provision. A contract is not legally binding but allows a more formal route to secure engagement with support where a voluntary early help plan has not worked or is not deemed appropriate. A parenting contract is not a punitive tool; it is intended to provide support and offer an alternative to prosecution.

The agreement should include:

  • a statement by the parents that they agree to comply for a specified period with whatever requirements are set out in the agreement; and
  • a statement by the Local Authority or governing body agreeing to provide support to the parents for the purpose of complying with the agreement.

The agreement is not legally binding, but it can be used as evidence if the local authority later decides to prosecute. The local authority or governing body should fund any support needed to implement the Parenting Contract, such as a requirement to attend parenting classes. If a parent does not comply with the requirements set out in the contract, the lead practitioner should contact the parent to seek an explanation and determine whether it is reasonable for the contract to remain useful. If the explanation shows that complying with the contract is difficult through no fault of the parent, a meeting should be arranged to review and amend it. If no explanation is provided, or the lead practitioner is not satisfied with the explanation, they should issue a warning to the parent, explaining that the contract is not working and may be terminated, with another course of action pursued if the parent does not engage.

What is a Parenting Order?

The court can impose a Parenting Order following a successful prosecution for irregular attendance or failure to follow a School Attendance Order. A Parenting Order can also be made up to 6 months after a Parenting Contract has been entered into. Parents’ agreement is not required before an order is made. They may be appropriate where the parent has not engaged in support to improve their child’s attendance and where compulsion to do so would help change parental behaviour.

The court can also impose an order on its own, if the local authority or governing body apply for this within 40 school days of a child’s serious misbehaviour or review of a child’s exclusion.

The order will:

  • require parents to attend parenting classes for up to 3 months, to support them in improving the child’s behaviour;
  • require parents to comply with other conditions, for up to 12 months.

Parents have a right of appeal against an order to the Crown Court.

A responsible officer from the school or local authority will supervise the order. Breach of the order without reasonable excuse can lead to a fine of up to £1,000. The police can enforce the order. 

What is a School Attendance Order?

If the Local Authority is not satisfied that the parents are providing a suitable education to a child of compulsory school age and it is appropriate for the child to attend school, they can apply for a School Attendance Order under Section 437(3) Education Act 1996.

The order will require the child’s parents to register the child at a named school. Failure to comply with a School Attendance Order amounts to an offence which the parent can be prosecuted for.

What if a parent does not comply with a School Attendance Order?

If the parents do not register the child at a school after the School Attendance Order has been issued, the local authority may choose to prosecute. The case will then go to the Magistrates Court and the parents will be given the opportunity to show that a suitable education is being provided. 

If the court find that the education provided is not suitable, parents can face a fine of up to £1000. If the parents are acquitted, the court can direct that the School Attendance Order be discharged.

What is an Education Supervision Order?

The local authority can apply for an Education Supervision Order under Section 36 Children’s Act 1989 if it believes a child of compulsory school age is not being properly educated. This can include irregular attendance at school. 

Under the Education Supervision Order, a supervisor will be appointed for the child who will advise, assist, befriend and give directions to the child and their parents to ensure that they are properly educated. 

The directions of the supervisor will override any obligation placed on the parents under Section 7 Education Act 1996 and Section 444 Education Act 1996.

Where parents persistently fail to comply with the directions given under the Education Supervision Order, they may be guilty of an offence. Local authorities can prosecute in the Magistrates Court for persistent non-compliance with the Order and parents (upon conviction) will be liable to a fine of up to £1,000.

When can a child’s name be removed from the school roll?

A school can only remove a child’s name from the school roll in particular circumstances, as set out in Regulation 9 The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.

The school has to inform the local authority under Regulation 13 The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 of any pupil who is going to be removed from the admissions register where:

  • the child will be home educated;
  • the child has moved away and no longer attends school;
  • the child has a medical condition and is certified as unlikely to be in a fit state of health to attend school;
  • the child is in custody for more than 4 months and it is not reasonably believed he/she will return to school;
  • the child has been permanently excluded. 

This information is correct at the time of writing, 5th September 2024. The law in this area is subject to change.

Coram Children’s Legal Centre cannot be held responsible if changes to the law outdate this publication. Individuals may print or photocopy information in CCLC publications for their personal use.

Professionals, organisations and institutions must obtain permission from the CCLC to print or photocopy our publications in full or in part.

On this page

This information is correct at the time of writing, 5th September 2024. The law in this area is subject to change.

Coram Children’s Legal Centre cannot be held responsible if changes to the law outdate this publication. Individuals may print or photocopy information in CCLC publications for their personal use.

Professionals, organisations and institutions must obtain permission from the CCLC to print or photocopy our publications in full or in part.

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