Bury St Edmunds headteacher and Suffolk support group director share their views on new national framework for school attendance and fines
The amount parents will be fined for taking their children out of school is set to increase under new national guidance.
A new national framework on improving school attendance, which was issued by the Department for Education (DfE) under the previous Conservative administration, takes effect from August 19.
A Suffolk headteacher said the legislation made attendance expecttions clearer, but said where parents faced costly holidays during the school holidays the changes were ‘unlikely to make a significant difference’ at improving attendance.
She said there needed to be a different conversation within society and Government about ‘the profiteering’ of companies during school holidays.
Driving up school attendance has been a focus for the Department for Education (DfE) after the pandemic is said to have exacerbated some of the issues that resulted in pupils missing school avoidably.
How much will the fine be?
The fine – or penalty notice – for unauthorised school absences across the country will be £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days. This is per parent, per child.
Currently in Suffolk, the penalty is £60 if paid within 21 days and £120 if paid between 21 and 28 days.
The DfE said the new fine rate was in line with inflation and was the first increase since 2012.
A second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil (within three years) is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.
And the third time an offence is committed (within three years) a penalty notice will not be issued and the case could be presented straight to the magistrates’ court, where prosecution could result in a fine of up to £2,500.
When will a fine be issued?
The new framework also brings in a national threshold for when a penalty notice must be considered by all schools in England.
The threshold is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence (usually equivalent to five school days) in a rolling period of 10 school weeks.
A school week means any week in which there is at least one school session. This can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence, eg four sessions of holiday taken in term time plus six sessions of arriving late after the register closes all within 10 school weeks.
These sessions do not have to be consecutive and can be made up of a combination of any type of unauthorised absence. The 10-school week period can also span different terms or school years, eg two sessions of unauthorised absence in the summer term and a further eight within the autumn term.
All state-funded schools must consider whether a penalty notice is appropriate in each individual case where one of their pupils reaches the national threshold for considering a penalty notice, the guidance says.
All schools can grant a leave of absence for exceptional circumstances at their discretion, but the guidance says 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.
A headteacher’s view
Maria Kemble, executive head of St Edmund's RC Primary School in Bury St Edmunds and St Joseph's RC Primary in Sudbury, said the legislation made it clearer what the expectations were for schools and parents, which she feels is useful.
She added: “The emphasis remains on working with families to support good attendance and identifying the reasons for absence honestly.
“The infrastructure that has been put in place by Government also makes it easier for schools to use data to monitor and evaluate their own attendance compared to local and national data in real time.
“This means as school leaders we can identify issues more quickly and take action to resolve them.”
On whether the changes would improve attendance, Mrs Kemble thinks for holidays where the cost is prohibitive during the school holidays ‘it is unlikely to make a significant difference’.
“There needs to be a different conversation within society and Government about the profiteering of companies during school holidays,” she said.
She said overall average attendance at St Edmund’s Primary was around the same as pre-pandemic levels, but there had been an increase in the small number of pupils who were persistently absent and at risk of emotional-based school refusal.
She said this was linked to anxiety and emotional wellbeing, which was part of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic for the children now in reception and just about to start school who did not attend the usual play groups etc during lockdown and so missed out developmentally.
A charity director’s view
Bec Jasper is co-director of two support organisations for parents and carers: the Suffolk group Parents and Carers Together (PACT) CIC, for those with a child or young person with mental health issues, and Define Fine CIC, a national organisation for carers/parents of children and young people experiencing barriers to attending school.
She said: “We're quite relieved that the guidance is becoming statutory as it does map out quite clearly the levels of support which schools should be offering a long time before it gets to the point of needing to fine or prosecute. We are just hoping they adhere to them.”
We really do not feel criminalising a parent or carer of a child unable to attend school is the right way to support that child back into education.
She said they had seen ‘quite a dramatic increase’ in the number of queries and referrals into their service for families who were at the point of being prosecuted and fined for non-attendance of their child or young person at schools.
She added those they supported were caring for a child or young person 'unable' to attend due to illness or unmet needs.
Regarding the new guidance, she said they liked to hope schools were paying attention in particular to the parts about working together with families, and also authorising absences due to illness (whether physical or mental) and not requesting unnecessary evidence from medical practitioners.
She added: “The vast majority of parents who have a child who is unwell or unable to attend school aren't keeping them off deliberately to withhold access to education, but rather ensuring their child has been properly assessed to understand any underlying issues to make sure the education placement is able to meet these needs and not cause unnecessary deterioration or trauma.”
She said they were seeing a rising trend in referrals for support from families who had received court summons and been asked to offer a plea (the court summons they have been involved with have all been due to unauthorised absences due to health, not holidays).
“At this stage it is extremely difficult to support parents as the process has gone so far,” said Bec.
“We really do not feel criminalising a parent or carer of a child unable to attend school is the right way to support that child back into education. We are always happy to support any family who finds themselves at risk of being in this position.”
Have you taken your child out of school during term-time for a holiday? Will the changes put you off doing so in future? Have you been fined for your child not attending school when it is due to their mental health or special needs? Email your views to mariam.ghaemi@iliffepublishing.co.uk
