Spotlight on attendance

With children across England returning to school this week attendance is a big focus within the media and regulations have been changed. Many families are understandably worried and there is a lot of misinformation floating about. Here we try to break it down.

Key changes:

1. All state schools are now required to share their daily attendance registers with the Department of Education 'DofE', local authorities and academy trusts.

2. New Regulations standardise the use of fines for unauthorised absences. The fines have also increased.

3. Expansion of the attendance hubs to share best practice with more schools.

4. Updated 'Working together to support school attendance' came into practice on the 19th August 2024.

Need to know:

1. Schools will have to consider fines if a pupil misses 10 sessions (1 session = 1 half day) within a 10 school week rolling period. The 10 sessions can be made up of any combination, such as 2 unauthorised days off and 6 instances of arriving late. The 10 school weeks can span terms and into new academic years.

2. Local authorities can still issue fines below this threshold if parents are deliberately trying to circumvent the national threshold, such as several absences just below threshold. Using INSET days may now also be considered to be deliberately circumventing, we will be following this closely.

3. The first penalty notice when the threshold is met will be £80 if paid within 21 days or £160 if paid within 28 days.

4. There is NO right of appeal against a FPN for parents. If the fine is not paid within 28 days then the local authority must consider whether they will prosecute for the offense.

5. If the threshold is met a second time within a 3 year rolling period then the second penalty notice will be £160 with no reduction.

6. A third penalty notice can not be issued for the same child within a 3 year rolling period of the first FPN, therefore, other action will be considered. This often involves prosecution, which can lead to a criminal record, but the local authority may consider other legal interventions instead. Your local authority must have, and publish, a code of conduct for issuing FPNs. This code must also state what additional options they will consider. It is advisable to read this policy for your LA.

7. Schools and local authorities must take a 'support-first' approach to help tackle barriers to attendance. We will break down EBSA and the new attendance guidance in the next blog.

Must I provide evidence?

Schools are increasingly requesting evidence in order to authorise absence, however, this is not necessarily lawful.

The updated guidance states: '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.' Therefore, blanket policies of requesting medical evidence are not supported. It is worth noting, however, that if you lie about illness to circumvent a FPN then you may give the school the justification they need to request medical evidence going forward.

Could 100% attendance schemes be discriminatory?

Schools are also increasingly using incentives to promote 100% attendance and most schools are aware of their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to policies to avoid discriminating against children with disabilities that impact their ability to attend. Some schools do, however, try and avoid making those reasonable adjustments and they could be discriminating against a disabled child. If this is the case then it would be worth reminding the school of the Equality Act 2010 when requesting they make appropriate, reasonable adjustments, to the policy for your child.

I hope this provides a breakdown of the changes as we start the school year and our next post will be a focus on SEND/EBSA and the impact on attendance and how this links in to this new guidance.