Penalty Notice Local Code of Conduct
Contents
1. The National Framework for Penalty Notices for school absence
2. Aims of the National Framework
3. The Local Code of Conduct
4. The legal basis
5. Rationale
6. Who may issue a Penalty Notice?
7. Threshold for issuing a Penalty Notice
8. Notice to Improve
9. Withdrawal of a Penalty Notice
10. Representation
11. Penalty Notice costs and repeat offences
12. Payment of Penalty Notice
13. Non-payment of Penalty Notice
14. Implementation
15. Truancy patrols
16. Review
17. Further information
1. The National Framework for Penalty Notices for school absence
A new National Framework for Penalty Notices for school absence was introduced through changes to secondary legislation. The regulations came into effect on the 19th August 2024.
This local code of conduct sets out both the National Framework and sets how the penalty notice system will operate in the London Borough of Hounslow.
This document is derived from the statutory guidance for maintained schools, academies, independent schools and local authorities Working together to improve school attendance (Department for Education, February 2024)
2. The National Framework aims to:
- Make penalty notices more effective by ensuring they are only used in cases where they are the most appropriate tool to change parental behaviour and improve attendance.
- Prioritise the support first approach by expecting support to be used in cases where it is appropriate and using penalty notices in cases where support is not appropriate (e.g. a term time holiday) has not worked or has not been engaged with.
- Improve consistency in the use of penalty notices across England by introducing a new national threshold at which they are considered.
- Improve the deterrent effect of a penalty notice by increasing the amount and introducing a new national limit of 2 penalty notices within a 3-year period to break cycles of repeat offending.
Specifically, the National Framework includes:
- A single consistent national threshold for when a penalty notice must be considered of 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period.
- A requirement that when the national threshold is met, schools make an assessment on a case-by-case basis whether a penalty notice can and should be issued. The following should be considered:
- if support or further support is appropriate instead, and
- whether there is a different tool or legal intervention that is more likely to improve attendance in this case.
- The option of using a Notice to Improve where support is appropriate but not working or being engaged with, to give a parent a final opportunity to engage in support before they are issued with a penalty notice if it is appropriate in the individual case.
- Schools or the police who issue their own penalty notices in a local authority area, checking with the local authority before issuing.
3. Requirements of this Local Code of Conduct
3.1 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 the London Borough of Hounslow. The code sets out the arrangements for administering penalty notices in Hounslow and must be adhered to by anyone issuing a penalty notice for school absence in this area.
3.2 The code complies with relevant regulations and the Department for
Education’s national framework for penalty notices as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance.
4. The legal basis
4.1 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).
4.2 The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007 (and subsequent amendments) set out how penalty notices for school absence must be used.
4.3 A penalty notice can only be issued by an authorised officer: that is, a headteacher or a deputy or assistant head authorised by them, an authorised local authority officer or a police officer. In the London Borough of Hounslow, the local authority issue penalty notice for school attendance.
4.4 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.
4.5 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).
5. Rationale
5.1 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 did not achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and maths in 2019 had an overall absence rate of 4.7% over the key stage, compared with 3.5% among pupils who achieved the expected standard and 2.7% among those who achieved the higher standard.
- Pupils who did not achieve grade 9 to 4 in English and maths GCSEs in 2019 had an overall absence rate of 8.8% over the key stage, compared with 5.2% among pupils who achieved a grade 4 and 3.7% among pupils who achieved grade 9 to 5 in both English and maths.
5.2 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.
5.3 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.
5.4 The national framework for penalty notices is based on the principles that penalty notices should only be used in cases where:
- Support is not appropriate (e.g. a term time holiday) or where support has been provided and not engaged with or not worked, and they are the most appropriate tool to change parental behaviour and improve attendance for that particular family.
6. Who may issue a Penalty Notice?
A Penalty Notice may only be issued by:
6.1 Authorised LA staff. In Hounslow this will be officers within the School Attendance Support Service. All referrals to the local authority which may result in the issuing of a Penalty Notice are made by schools – the local authority lead on this across the London Borough of Hounslow. Checks are made by the local authority using the cross-border arrangements as set out in the statutory guidance and prior to the Penalty Notice being issued.
6.2 Headteachers and school staff authorised by them may request the School Attendance Support Service to issue a Penalty Notice.
6.3 A Police Officer. In practice, in the London Borough of Hounslow it is the local authority who issues a penalty notice after referral from a school. However, schools and the police retain the power to do so as set out in primary legislation.
7. Threshold for issuing a Penalty Notice
There is a national threshold for issuing a Penalty Notice.
7.1 When the national threshold has been met: 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. The national threshold has been met when a pupil has been recorded as absent for 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) within 10 school weeks, with one of, or a combination of the following codes:
- Code G (the pupil is absent without leave for the purpose of a holiday),
- Code N (the circumstances of the pupil’s absence have not yet been established),
- Code O (none of the other rows of Table 3 in regulation 10(3) of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 applies), and
- Code U (the pupil attended after the taking of the register ended but before the end of the session, where no other code applies)
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 (e.g. 4 sessions of holiday taken in term time plus 6 sessions of arriving late after the register closes all within 10 school weeks).
These sessions can be consecutive (e.g. 10 sessions of holiday in one week) or not (e.g. 6 sessions of unauthorised absence taken in 1 week and 1 per week for the next 4 weeks).
The period of 10 school weeks can also span different terms or school years (e.g. 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the Summer Term and a further 8 within the Autumn Term).
7.2 In cases where the pupil has moved between local authority areas in the previous 3 years, either because the family has moved house or the pupil has moved school, an additional check will be carried out.
Where the previous local authority area is known, the authority for that area will be contacted to check whether a penalty notice has been issued to that parent for that pupil in the previous 3 years. These checks will be made by the local authority.
In cases where the previous local authority is not known or the information cannot be, or is not, provided by the previous local authority, it will be assumed that the parent has not previously received a penalty notice and the escalation process started as per a new case.
7.3 When a school becomes aware that the threshold has been met, they are expected to make the following considerations in liaison with their allocated School Attendance Support Officer to decide whether to issue a penalty notice in each individual case. Questions to be considered include:
• Is support appropriate in this case?
If yes, schools are expected to continue with the existing support without a penalty notice or issue a Notice to Improve if that support is not working or is not being engaged with. A penalty notice can be issued if has not worked.
If no, for example a holiday in term time, a penalty notice should be issued subject to the other conditions below.
- Is a penalty notice the best available tool to improve attendance and change parental behaviour for this particular family or would further support or one of the other legal interventions be more appropriate?
- Is issuing a penalty notice in this case appropriate after considering any obligations under the Equality Act 2010 such as where a pupil has a disability?
- (For local authorities only) Is it in the public interest to issue a penalty notice in this case given the local authority would be responsible for any resulting prosecution for the original offence in cases of non-payment?
If the answer to those questions is yes, then a penalty notice should be issued. If not, another tool or legal intervention should be used to improve attendance.
7.4 Support is defined as any activity intended to improve the pupil’s attendance, not including issuing a penalty notice or prosecution. As part of this consideration, we consider what suitable forms of support are currently available in school and where necessary from other services and agencies in the area. We then decide whether any of those things are appropriate in the individual cases and for those that are appropriate, whether they have been provided previously or could be provided now instead of taking legal action. The local authority’s decision on whether sufficient support has been provided before issuing a penalty notice should be treated as final.
Whatever action is taken after the national threshold has been met, schools, and local authorities where appropriate, monitor the impact of the action, and if it does not lead to attendance improvement review the case and consider alternative actions.
7.5 The National Framework does not prevent a penalty notice from being used in other cases where an offence has been committed but before doing so authorised officers are expected to make the same considerations as set out above.7
If in an individual case the local authority (or other authorised officer) believes a penalty notice would be appropriate, they retain the discretion to issue one before the threshold is met.
This might apply for example, where parents are deliberately avoiding the national threshold by taking several term time holidays below threshold, or for repeated absence for birthdays or other family events.
In Hounslow, we have the discretion to issue a penalty notice earlier in such circumstances. We retain our right to conduct truancy sweeps also.
All updates following the issuing of a Penalty Notice are communicated with the schools directly, this is most commonly done via email by the School Attendance Support Service.
8. Notice to Improve
A Notice to Improve is a final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before a penalty notice is issued.
8.1 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.
8.2 A Notice to Improve does not need to be issued in cases where support is not appropriate and 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 behavioural impact (e.g. because the parent has already received one for a similar offence).
8.3 A Notice to Improve is sent by the SASS Team with the agreement of the school. The Notice to Improve will set out:
a. The pupil’s attendance record and details of the offence(s)
b. The benefits of regular attendance and parents’ duty under section 7 of the Education Act 1996
c. Support/opportunities for support provided so far
d. Opportunities for further support and the option to access previously provided support that was not engaged with if appropriate
e. Risk of a penalty notice being issued or prosecution considered if improvement is not secured within the improvement period
f. A clear timeframe for the improvement period of up to 6 weeks
g. Details of what sufficient improvement within that timeframe will look like in the case (e.g. no further offences within a certain timeframe or attendance improved within a certain timeframe) - this is likely to include an attendance target
h. The grounds on which a penalty notice may be issued before the end of the improvement period
8.4 What sufficient improvement looks like is decided on a case-by-case basis. For some families, no further unauthorised absence should be tolerated, and in other cases some can be tolerated if the family is showing engagement and progress. This will be made clear to the parent in the Notice to Improve letter issued by the local authority.
8.5 Where improvement is not being made, a penalty notice can be issued before the improvement period has ended. For example, if the Notice to Improve stated that there should be no further unauthorised absences in a 6-week period, but the pupil is absent for an unauthorised absence in the first week there is no need to wait the full 6 weeks before issuing. The Notice to Improve should make clear on what grounds it will be considered to proceed to a penalty notice before the end of the improvement period and the parent(s) will be informed by the SASS Team.
9. Withdrawal of a Penalty Notice
Once issued, a Penalty Notice may only be withdrawn by the local authority in the following circumstances:
9.1 Proof has been established that the Penalty Notice has been issued to the wrong person.
9.2 The Penalty Notice ought not to have been issued i.e. where it has been issued outside the terms of this code of conduct or no offence has been committed.
10. Representation
There is no statutory right of appeal against the issuing of a Penalty Notice.
11. Penalty Notice costs and repeat offences
11.1 From 19th August 2024 the Penalty of £80 was imposed per parent per child, if paid within 21 days of receipt of the Penalty Notice. This would increase to £160 per parent per child, if paid after 21 days but within 28 days of receipt. If the Penalty is not paid in full by the end of the 28 days after the date of issue and the attendance is still a concern the LA will consider prosecution.
11.2 An additional rung to the ladder of escalation, with any second penalty notice issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period would be charged at a higher rate of £160 with no option for this second offence to be discharged at the lower rate of £80.
11.3 A national limit of 2 penalty notices that can be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period, so at the 3rd (or subsequent) offence(s). We will consider another tool such as prosecution or one of the other attendance legal interventions.
12. Payment of Penalty Notice
12.2 Arrangements for payment will be detailed on the Penalty Notice. Payment by credit/debit card may be taken over the telephone on 020 8583 2753/2768 or online at www.hounslow.gov.uk/xfp/form/285
12.3 Payment of the Penalty Notice discharges the parent’s liability for the period in question and they cannot be subsequently prosecuted under other enforcement powers for the period covered by the Penalty Notice.
12.4 The LA retains any revenue from any Penalty Notice to cover enforcement costs. It is unlikely that revenue will be greater than enforcement costs.
13. Non-payment of a Penalty Notice
13.1 Where a Penalty Notice is not paid, and attendance fails to improve a prosecution will be considered. Any prosecution is for the offence of failing to secure regular attendance at school and not for non-payment of the fine. Prosecutions are brought under section 4441/1A of the Education Act 1996. In Hounslow the Head of Access to Education and the Executive Director of Children’s and Adults’ Services are responsible for deciding whether to prosecute a parent under this section.
13.2 There will be circumstances where Penalty Notices have been issued and paid, however attendance has not improved, and a prosecution may follow.
14. Implementation
14.1 The School Attendance Support Service will consider serving Penalty Notices when the circumstances of the pupil’s absence have met the criteria set out in the Local Code of Conduct and are in accordance with the National Framework for Penalty Notices 2024.
14.2 Schools party to this code of practice who feel that Penalty Notices should be issued will ensure their attendance policies are compliant with this code of conduct.
14.3 The School Attendance Support Service will maintain a record of all notifications.
14.4 Where unauthorised absence continues, a formal warning letter will be issued by the School Attendance Support Officer which details the possibility of a Penalty Notice being issued and stating that improvement must be seen within a specified time scale.
14.5 The maximum number of Penalty Notices that can be issued in respect of a national limit of 2 penalty notices that can be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period.
14.6 The School Attendance Support Service will monitor all referred cases and in cases of continued unauthorised absence, where parents have not taken responsibility for ensuring regular/improved attendance and following the issuing of a Notice to Improve, a Penalty Notice will be served.
14.7 There is a process in place where all Notices to Improve and Penalty Notices issued are recorded.
15. Truancy patrols
15.1 Truancy Patrols may be conducted. Where the School Attendance Support Service becomes aware of circumstances, we will seek to cooperate with partners to address the concerns.
15.2 A Penalty Notice will only be issued after due consideration when all facts are known and the threshold for serving the Penalty Notice has been met.
15.3 Information is given to anyone stopped on a patrol, pupil and/or parent about the possible support and sanctions used to address non-attendance.
16. Cross-border arrangements
Hounslow’s School Attendance Support Service (SASS) work with neighbouring and other local authorities to share information and make enquiries. This information and these enquiries apply if a pupil has moved between local authorities. For example, if a pupil has moved between local authorities in the previous 3 years and the previous local authority(ies) is known they should be contacted to check whether a penalty notice has been issued to that parent for that pupil in the previous 3 years. To make these enquiries as easy as possible, the SASS have a specific email address for other local authorities.
This email address is crossborder.penaltynotice@hounslow.gov.uk
17. Review
This code of conduct will be reviewed on an annual basis. The most recent review was July 2024.
18. Further information
School Attendance Support Service - Children’s and Adults’ Services
London Borough of Hounslow
Hounslow House
7 Bath Road
Hounslow
Middlesex
W3 3EB
Telephone: School Attendance Support Service Duty: 020 8583 2622
Email: SASSDuty@hounslow.gov.uk
