School attendance

By law all children of compulsory school age (normally 5-16) must receive a suitable full-time education. As a parent you have a legal responsibility to make sure this happens. This is either by registering your child at a school or by making other arrangements to give them a suitable, full-time education.

Once your child is registered at school you are legally responsible for making sure they attend regularly. This means your child should attend on time and should not have any unauthorised absence.

A person with whom the child lives, and who looks after the child, regardless of what their relationship is with the child, is considered to be a parent in education law.

The foundation for ensuring that children, young people, and their families achieve their full potential is to create an ethos in which excellent school attendance is developed and nurtured. This will involve a partnership between the young people themselves, families, schools, all colleagues, and professionals working together across the range of agencies and voluntary groups that work within the city to improve outcomes for all children and young people.

Excellent school attendance:

• Is a critical factor in ensuring improved achievements
• Is central to social inclusion
• Has a major impact on a child’s future life opportunities

All children and young people in Southampton should be receiving their full entitlement to education. This is so that they are equipped to fulfil their potential. Helping them make good choices as young adults and citizens; for themselves and their communities.

It is important for parents to recognise their responsibilities around school attendance. If your child does not regularly attend school, you could be fined or face prosecution.

Sometimes a child may struggle to attend school regularly. In those cases, the child’s school and any involved professionals will work alongside the child and family to help improve attendance. They may also seek the support of their Education Support Officer. All of these efforts will be to support the family and child to attend school regularly. Prosecution would only be used as final resort, if this was appropriate to the circumstances.

Working together to improve school attendance

Improving and promoting school attendance is everyone's responsibility. In Southampton confronting school absence is a shared responsibility across agencies. It is a priority for all council services and partner agencies. It needs to become a priority for all communities, given how important school attendance is for children’s later success.

You may want to read more about the:

• Working Together to Improve School Attendance guidance from the Department for Education
• School Attendance Resources from the Children's Commissioner
• Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance from the government

Schools should refer cases to Education Support through our contact form.

If a pupil is expected to be absent from school for 15 consecutive or cumulative days, the school must tell us using our contact form. Next steps will be guided by the needs of the pupil.

Legal measures

The council may need to undertake legal proceedings where a parent does not ensure their children's regular attendance at school. Or if they fail to enrol them at school or otherwise provide a suitable full-time education.

Our Education Support Team will make relevant investigations and action plans, concerning absence, to avoid escalation to prosecution wherever this is possible. This will be in collaboration with you and your children, school, and other relevant parties.

Legal action does not always mean a prosecution. We have summarised some of the ways legal action may be explored with you around school attendance. It is important to know that investigations around attendance take place under caution. This is as per the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984.

Penalty notices

Penalty notices are fines imposed on parents. They are an alternative to the prosecution of parents for failing to ensure that their child of compulsory school age regularly attends either: 

• The school where they are registered 
• A place where alternative provision is provided

They operate the same way throughout the country.

Penalty notices can be requested by the school for unauthorised absence and unauthorised leave of absence. All schools are required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons. Fines are issued per parent, per child.

From August 2024, the fine for school absences across the country will be £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days. This rate is in line with inflation and is the first increase since 2012. 

If a parent receives a second fine for the same child within any three-year period, this will be charged at the higher rate of £160. 

Fines per parent will be capped to two fines within any three-year period. Once this limit has been reached, other action like a parenting order or prosecution will be considered. 

Investigation, attendance focused meetings and reviews

Where a child is not attending school regularly, an Education Support Officer will be allocated to the child and their family.

Their role will be to investigate the reasons for poor attendance. They also support the family with an improvement plan that is reviewed through Attendance Focused Meetings. Through these meetings, a Lead Professional will be identified for the child. This may not be the Education Support Officer, if there is a more appropriate person who is involved with the family and the cause of poor attendance.

It is important to know that investigations around attendance take place under caution. This is as per the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984.

Education Supervision Order (ESO)

Education Supervision Orders (ESO) are issued by the Family Court. They instruct parents to follow directions made in that order to improve school attendance.

It requires the parent and the child to work with the Education Support Officer for a specific time period to ensure improvement in attendance. Not following the ESO could lead to prosecution.

School Attendance Order (SAO)

School Attendance Orders (SAO) are issued when the council are not satisfied that a child is receiving an education.

The SAO requires the parent to enrol their child into the school or other educational setting that is named in the order.

Parents will be given 15 days to provide evidence that either the child is:

• Registered at the setting named in the order
• Receiving appropriate elective home education provision

Prosecution

Councils have the responsibility to prosecute under the following circumstances:

• Where a parent fails to secure a child’s regular attendance at school, or at alternative provision organised by the school or council (Section 444, Education Act 1996);
• Where a parent fails to comply with a School Attendance Order (Section 443, Education Act 1996).

As a result of prosecution, a parent could get a fine of up to £2,500, a community order or a jail sentence up to three months. The court could also give you a Parenting Order.

Prosecutions are very serious. They will only be used as a last resort if a family have not been able to engage with the support plans devised to support a child to attend school regularly. They will never come as a surprise, and will only be taken forward after support has been exhausted.