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The purpose of this local code of conduct is to ensure that penalty notices for school absence are issued in a manner that is fair and consistent across Dorset Council. It sets out the arrangements for administering penalty notices in Dorset Council and must be adhered to by anyone issuing a penalty notice for school absence in this area. The code complies with the regulations under the Department for Education’s (DfE) new national framework for penalty notices as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance.
This code has been drawn up in consultation with the headteachers and governing bodies of state-funded schools and Dorset police.
Penalty notices may be issued to a parent as an alternative to prosecution for irregular school attendance under s444 of the Education Act 1996. They can only be issued in relation to pupils of compulsory school age in maintained schools, pupil referral units, academy schools, AP academies, and certain off-site places as set out in section 444A(1)(b).
The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007 (and subsequent amendments) set out how penalty notices for school absence must be used.
A penalty notice can only be issued by an authorised officer, that is:
In Dorset Council it has been agreed that the council will be the organisation that issues penalty notices.
The national framework for penalty notices is published in statutory guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’. It provides further national guidance on the operation of penalty notice schemes for school absence in England.
A parent includes any person who is not a parent but who has parental responsibility for the child or who has care of the child, as set out in section 576 of the Education Act 1996. Penalty notices will usually be issued to the parent or parents with day-to-day responsibility for the pupil’s attendance or the parent or parents who have allowed the absence (regardless of which parent has applied for a leave of absence).
Under this code a penalty notice may be issued to each parent who has responsibility for attendance and in respect of each individual child.
Research published by the Department for Education in May 2022 found pupils with higher attainment at KS2 and KS4 had lower levels of absence over the key stage compared to those with lower attainment.
Pupils who:
For the most vulnerable pupils, regular attendance is also an important protective factor and often the best opportunity for needs to be identified and support provided.
Where difficulties arise with school attendance, professionals should take a ‘support first’ approach in line with the DfE’s ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, only resorting to legal enforcement when necessary. The aim is that the need for legal enforcement is reduced by taking a supportive approach to tackle the barriers to attendance and intervening early before absence becomes entrenched.
The national framework for penalty notices is based on the principles that penalty notices should only be used in cases where:
The national threshold has been met when a pupil has been recorded as absent for 10 sessions (in accordance with the school’s attendance policy and usually equivalent to 5 school days) and within 10 school weeks, with one of, or a combination of the following codes:
Working together to improve school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024) provides further information on absence codes.
When a school becomes aware that the national threshold has been met, they must consider whether a penalty notice can and should be issued or not.
If repeated penalty notices are being issued and they are not working to change behaviour they are unlikely to be most appropriate tool. The national framework for penalty notices sets out that a maximum of 2 penalty notices per child, per parent can be issued within a rolling 3-year period (for holidays taken after the 18 August 2024). If the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within 3 years, Dorset Council will utilise other legal interventions available to Local Authorities, such as Education Supervision Orders and criminal prosecution.
For the purpose of the escalation process, previous penalty notices include those not paid (including where prosecution was taken forward if the parent pleaded or was found guilty) but not those which were withdrawn.
The following considerations will be made before issuing (or requesting that another authorised officer issues) a penalty notice to ensure consistency of approach.
In cases where support is not appropriate (for example, for holidays in term time), consider on a case by case basis:
In cases where support is appropriate, consider on a case-by-case basis:
If the answer to the above questions is ‘yes’, then a penalty notice (or a notice to improve in cases where support is appropriate) will usually be issued.
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. An authorised officer can choose not to use one in any case, including cases where support is appropriate, but they do not expect a notice to improve would have any impact on a parent’s behaviour (e.g. because the parent has already received one for a similar offence).
The issuing of a notice to improve will need to be an agreed action at an inclusion panel which is attended by the school’s link Inclusion Lead.
Once the issuing of a notice to improve has been agreed, the school will complete Dorset Council’s notice to improve template and will require their link Inclusion Lead’s signature before sending to families.
The length of the improvement period will usually be six weeks. The parent will be notified if consideration is being given to issuing a penalty notice before the end of the improvement period.
Sufficient improvement to attendance will be decided on a case by case basis but there should be no further unauthorised absences during the improvement period.
The school and Inclusion Lead will monitor the attendance over the monitoring period and the Inclusion Lead will discuss the attendance at the Dorset Council Legal Attendance Panel. The decision to issue a penalty notice will be made at this panel following the Inclusion Lead’s liaison with the school.
A penalty notices can be issued where a pupil regularly arrives to school late (after the attendance register has closed and where a U code has been entered into the register in line with the school’s published attendance policy) and where no valid reason is provided for the lateness, meaning that it could have been avoided.
A penalty notice can be issued when a child is suspended/excluded from school and is found in a public place during normal school hours on the first five days of each and every suspension or permanent exclusion (Section 103 Education and Inspections Act). The suspending/excluding school must have informed the parent/s, in writing, of their duty to ensure their child is not found in a public place and a warning that a penalty notice can be issued if their suspended or excluded child is found in a public place during normal school hours.
Where a pupil is present in a public place with no valid reason during the first five days of a suspension/exclusion, Dorset Council would be responsible for issuing a penalty notice if the school is in their area. Where the child has been permanently excluded, the issuing of penalty notices would be actioned by the local authority in which the child resides.
A penalty notice may be withdrawn by the local authority named in the notice under the following circumstances:
Arrangements for payment will be detailed within the Penalty Notice. The first penalty notice issued to the parent for a child will be charged at £80 if paid within 21 days, rising to £160 if paid between days 22 and 28.
In circumstances where a second Penalty Notice is issued to the same parent for the same pupil within 3 years of the first, the second notice is charged at a flat rate of £160 and is payable within 28 days. There is no reduced sum available in this instance.
There are no payment plan options available in respect of penalty notice fines issued under this Code of Conduct. Fines must be paid in full by the relevant payment deadlines.
There is no statutory right of appeal against the issuing of a penalty notice.