Working Together to Improve School Attendance

The 2024 School Attendance Reforms, which become statutory from 19th August 2024, are the biggest change to the approach to attendance in 20 years. 

Being in school and having the best attendance possible underpins all the many benefits of school for your child, such as their learning, wellbeing and wider development. For some children, attending school every day will be harder than for others. This is why schools are committed to working together with families to solve problems and support your child’s school attendance. There are two main areas:

• Parents’ responsibilities for school attendance and what you need to do when your child needs to be absent.
• How schools and local authorities will work with you to support your child’s attendance.

PARENTS' RESPONSIBILITIES

What are my responsibilities for my child’s attendance?

As a parent, you are legally responsible for making sure your child gets a suitable full- time education. For parents, this will mean making sure your child is in school every day except when:

• Your child is too ill to go to school.
• You have advance permission for a leave of absence from your child’s school for them not to attend. You should only ask for this in exceptional circumstances.
• Your religious body has a day especially for religious observance.

Whilst some absence is unavoidable, it is important that your child is in school every day they can be, for their learning, well-being and development.

If my child needs to be absent from school, what do I need to do?

You should contact school as early as possible on the first day of absence to explain why. If you do not, the school will contact you on the first morning of their absence to find out why your child is not in school.

All parents can request a ‘leave of absence’ for their child which gives them permission to be absent from school. The school has the final say over whether to approve the request and for how long your child can be absent. This must be made in advance.

My child has a short term illness. Do they have to go to school, and will I be penalised if they don’t?

If your child is ill, read the NHS advice to help you decide whether they can go to school.  If they are too ill to attend, you are not breaking the law and will not be penalised. You should let school know as soon as possible on the first day of absence and school must record such absences as authorised. If the absence due to illness is ongoing or frequent you should speak to the school to see what support can be put in place.

Do I need to provide medical evidence to support my child’s illness related absence?

If your child is too ill to attend school, schools must record these absences as authorised.  In the majority of cases medical evidence is not needed, the school may ask you for evidence where:

• Your child is regularly absent because of illness, to assess how we can help your child by putting the right reasonable adjustments in place.
• In a small number of cases where school has reason to believe your child was not too ill to attend and a conversation cannot resolve the issue.

If you are asked to provide evidence this does not need to be a letter from your doctor or consultant, and doctors will not usually provide such letters. It can, instead, be appointment cards, prescriptions, or notes of previous consultations (including from the NHS app).

A lack of written evidence must not prevent the right support being put in place or the absence being authorised if you can demonstrate your child was, or is, unable to attend, or is awaiting treatment. If you are asked for evidence you cannot provide, a conversation between the school, child and parent can help to resolve the issue.

What should I do if my child needs a dental or medical appointment in school time?

To avoid disruption to your child’s attendance, medical and dental appointments should not be booked during the school day whenever reasonably possible. When they are, you should ask the school in advance for a leave of absence and collect them as close to the time of the appointment as possible and return them to school for the rest of the school day afterwards. 

ACCESSING SUPPORT TO HELP MY CHILD ATTEND SCHOOL

My child is struggling to attend because of an issue in school. Who can help us?

The first step is to talk to the school about why your child is missing school, and what help the school can give. You should still do everything you can to help your child attend as much as possible whilst waiting for help and support to be put into place.  The Headteacher is the School Attendance Champion. The school and local council are expected to follow the expectations set out in the guidance document Working together to improve school attendance.

If your child is struggling to attend because of something that is happening at school, the school will work with you (and your child) to overcome the issues. You should agree a set of joint actions with the school that you have all developed together to support your child. This will often include a commitment to support you and your child by working together, or help you to access support services in exchange for an agreement from you to take part in the support offered. The school will also arrange times for you to come together to review these actions and your child’s progress.

Depending on the reasons for your child’s absence, this may take the form of an action plan, an early help plan, or a parenting contract.

My child is struggling to attend because of an issue at home or getting to school. Who can help us?

Again, talking to the school should be your first step. It is expected to help you access the support you need – such as from the school nursing service (Connect for Health) or local housing or transport team.

The local council’s school attendance team is expected to work with the school and provide access to the support you need if the issues you or your child are facing are beyond the remit of the school. If there are lots of reasons for your child’s absence, local services are expected to work together to support you and your child. They are expected to provide you with a single action plan and lead worker to help and support you. In most cases this will be a member of school staff but it might be a member of the local authority or local healthcare staff.

In exchange, you are expected to agree and take part in accessing the support once it has been put in place. It is advisable to regularly meet with your child’s school to review what is and isn’t working, involving your child if possible. While waiting for help, you should still do everything you can to help your child attend as much as possible.

ACCESSING SUPPORT FOR MY CHILD WITH LONG TERM ILLNESS OR SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES

My child has a long term illness, special educational needs or a disability that is impacting their attendance. What help is available?

If your child is regularly absent from school because of illness (regardless of whether it is mental or physical) or special educational needs or a disability, they have the same right to a suitable full-time education as any other child. You should work with the school to discuss the reasons and make sure the right support is in place.

All schools are expected to provide support in these cases. More information can be found in your child’s school’s policy on supporting pupils with medical conditions.

Schools are expected to:

• Work with you to make reasonable adjustments to help your child attend. These could include adjustments to uniform, transport, routines, access to support or lunchtime arrangements.

• Ensure your child receives the right pastoral care and in certain cases consider a time-limited phased return to school where appropriate, for example for those who have anxiety about school attendance.

• Work jointly with other services including the local council and health services.
• For pupils with a long-term medical condition – either physical or mental – schools are also expected to make attendance support a key feature of any individual healthcare plan.

• For pupils with Education, Health and Care plans - ensure access to any provision outlined within the plan.

To make this work, it is important that you are open and work with the school by sharing written information. This will help agree the right support and take an active part in agreeing and putting in place the solution.

In most cases this will be sufficient, but no child should be out of school without appropriate education for more than 15 school days over a school year. Where additional support is needed, the local council is responsible for arranging alternative suitable full-time (or close to) education for your child.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care plan, and is out of school for more than 15 days,  the school is expected to inform the local council who is responsible for your child's plan. This is to ensure that they are aware of the situation and to seek their support for your child where necessary.

Where can I get help if my child is too anxious to go to school?

Attending school usually helps to protect your child’s mental health, for a range of reasons, including giving them a chance to be with friends and to benefit from learning.  However, some children can be anxious or worried about going to school, particularly around the start of the new year or joining a new school or class. This is a normal emotion, and not necessarily indicative of an underlying mental health condition.

If their anxiety continues and becomes an attendance issue, you should speak to the school together with your child about why they are anxious and what can be done.

You can find some useful advice at Young Minds, to help work through likely reasons together with your child, what to do and how to make sure that you get the right support if there are more serious issues.

FORMAL AND LEGAL ACTION WHERE VOLUNTARY SUPPORT HASN'T WORKED OR ISN'T TAKEN UP

Will my local council take legal action against me?

If your child is absent from school without permission or a valid reason, you are likely to be breaking the law. Where this happens, your child’s school or the local council will speak to you to understand the reasons. If your child hasn’t attended because they are struggling to, both your child’s school and your local council are expected to put the right support in place to help you.

If you do not take part in that support, or it doesn’t work because more structured formal support is needed, then your child’s school or your local council may:

• Invite you to agree to a parenting contract. This is not a punishment or a criticism of your parenting. It is a more formal action plan that sets out what you will do to improve your child’s attendance and what your child’s school and/or your local council will do to support this.
• Apply to the family court for an education supervision order to ensure you and our child receive advice, assistance and direction to make sure they receive a suitable full-time education.

If you do not make any efforts to improve your child’s attendance or it is clear you have knowingly allowed your child to be absent without good reason – for example, taking your child on holiday in school time without permission – your local council may prosecute you to protect your child’s right to a full-time education. Even during this process, you have the opportunity to accept and engage in voluntary support (such as an early help assessment) or formal support (such as a parenting contract or education supervision order) to prevent the case from going to court. If found guilty you may be given a parenting order, community order, a fine of up to £2,500 or in very exceptional circumstances a sentence of up to 3 months in prison.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE DURING TERM TIME : UPDATED INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

The Supreme Court clarified has clarified the law on unauthorised leave, including holidays, during term time (Platt v Isle of Wright 2017). The Supreme Court has made clear that attending school ‘regularly’ means that the children must attend school on every day that they are required to do so. As such, the parents of any child who is absent from school without authorisation for any length of time are likely to be considered as committing an offence under s444 of the Education Act 1996.

The law states a leave of absence may only be granted by a school if an application is made in advance and if it considers there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application. 

Schools must judge each application individually considering the specific facts and circumstances and relevant background context behind each request. 

A leave of absence is granted entirely at the school’s discretion. Generally, a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation would not constitute an exceptional circumstance. 

Where a leave of absence is granted, the school will determine the number of days a pupil can be absent from school.

When making an application for Leave of Absence parents are advised to give sufficient information and time to allow the Head teacher the opportunity to consider all the exceptional circumstances and to notify parents of their decision. The school may also request further information on the application and supporting documentation where appropriate.

It is advised that if the resident parent has not received notification or a response regarding the leave of absence application, it is their responsibility to ascertain if the leave is authorised prior to the start of the leave.

The school can only consider Leave of Absence requests which are made by the ‘resident’ parent ie the parent with whom the child normally resides.

Where applications for leave of absence are made in advance and refused, the child is expected to be in school on the dates set out in the application. If the child is absent during that period, it will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.  Where a leave of absence is requested, but additional days taken either prior to or after the request may be considered as part of the leave of absence.

Leave of Absences which are not made in advance cannot be authorised in line with legislation.  This will result in the absence being recorded as ‘unauthorised’. 

All matters of unauthorised absence relating to a Leave of Absence will be referred to the Warwickshire Attendance Service, part of Warwickshire County Council.  Penalty Notices are issued in accordance with Warwickshire County Council’s Code of Conduct for Penalty Notices and in the first instance, as an alternative to prosecution proceedings. 

 Leave of Absence taken in the academic year 2023-24

It is important to note, Penalty Notices are issued to each parent of each absent child, (for example 2 children and 2 parents, means each parent will receive 2 invoices in the amount of £120 each, totalling £240 for both children, this is reduced to £60 per child if paid within 21 days).

Where a Penalty Notice is not paid within the required timeframe as set out on the notice, the matter will be referred to Warwickshire County Council’s Legal Services to consider instigating criminal proceedings under S444 Education Act 1996. 

Leave of Absence taken in the academic year 2024-25

The law relating to Penalty Notices is due to change with effect from 1 September 2024. Therefore Penalty Notices issued for Leave of Absences taken after this date will be issued in accordance with the updated legislation. 

• Penalty Notices are issued to each parent of each absent child, (for example 2 children and 2 parents, means each parent will receive 2 invoices – 4 in total). 
  • First Leave of Absence offence:  The Penalty Notice amount of £160 to be paid within 28 days, this is reduced to £80 each child if paid within 21 days.
  • Second Leave of Absence offence within a 3 year period (from the date of issue of the first penalty notice): The amount of £160 paid within 28 days.  No reduced amount, 
• Payment plans will not be offered and/or payments received outside the 28 day period will not be accepted. Where a penalty notice expires unpaid the matter will be referred to Warwickshire County Council’s Legal Services to consider criminal prosecution.    
• Third Leave of Absence offence within a 3 year period (from the date of issue of the first penalty notice)  A penalty notice will be not be issued and the matter will be referred to Warwickshire County Council’s Legal Services to consider instigating criminal prosecution proceedings under S444 of Education Act 1996.

Your child’s progress academically as well as socially is our shared priority.