Extra checks and higher fines to tackle school absence

State funded schools across Staffordshire and Cheshire are going to have to share their daily registers with the Government - as part of plans to tackle poor attendance.

There'll also be higher fines for parents who take their children out of class without permission.

The Department for Education (DfE) has said a fine must be considered if a child misses five days of school for unauthorised absence.

Higher fines in effect from September

School absence fines currently start at £60, rising to £120 if they are not paid within 21 days. But the DfE has said fines will now start at £80, rising to £160.

It comes after nearly 400,000 penalty notices were issued to parents in England in 2022-23 for unauthorised school absences - which was much higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Nearly nine in ten (89.3%) of the fines were for unauthorised holidays as families looked to book cheaper vacations outside school term times, according to DfE figures released in December.

Government guidance is expected to clarify when financial penalties for school absences should be used to ensure councils issue fines appropriately.

The DfE has said school absence fines will be brought under a national framework to help tackle inconsistencies in their use across England.

Daily register monitoring

Under the new measures - which have been announced as part of the Government's efforts to try to cut down on the number of children who are regularly missing school - every state school in England will share their daily attendance registers with the DfE, councils and academy trusts.

The DfE hopes the data set will help schools spot and support children at risk of persistent absence, or in danger of becoming missing from education.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said:

"Today we are taking that next step to further boost attendance and I want to thank those who are working with us including teachers and heads.

"Education standards have risen sharply across the country, with Ofsted ratings up from 68% to nearly 90% since 2010 - and pupils' performance is ranked as some of the best globally - so it has never been more valuable to be in school."

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: "A consistent national framework for fines makes sense. Currently there is significant variation between how and when local authorities issue fines to parents.

"However, parents will likely be surprised that at a time when schools are struggling to find enough teachers to teach classes, when buildings are crumbling, and when we are in the middle of a crisis in special needs provision, that the Government is choosing to focus on increasing fines for parents.

"Good attendance is obviously critically important, but fines have long proven to be too blunt a tool and largely ineffective at improving persistent absence."

He added: "What is really needed to tackle poor attendance is more targeted resources to find out the reasons behind absence, including support for vulnerable families and for children and young people's mental health.

"Without that work, higher fines could just be further punishing already struggling families and children."

Labour's shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

"Persistent absence was rising long before the pandemic - the result of growing unaddressed mental ill health and the impact of years of economic decline hitting family finances and a breakdown of trust between schools and families.

"The Tories should follow Labour's plan to tackle absence, introduce a register of children not in school, bringing together children's existing records and investing in access to mental health counselling support in every school to deal with persistent absence once and for all."

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