Education penalty notice code of conduct

When may a penalty notice for absence be appropriate? 

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 weeks4, 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) 

If repeated penalty notices are being issued and they are not working to change behaviour they are unlikely to be the 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.  

If the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within 3 years, another tool should be used. In Southwark, where a child’s attendance has met the national threshold for a third time within 3 years and the parent/s have already been issued with 2 penalty notices within that period, consideration will be given to prosecution under S.443 or s.444 Education Act 1996 or if an Education Supervision Order is appropriate. 

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paid (including where prosecution was taken forward if the parent pleaded or was found guilty) but not those which were withdrawn.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 national framework does not prevent a penalty notice from being used in other cases where an offence has been committed but before doing so, authorized officers are expected to make the same considerations as set out above and below.  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 Southwark, this discretion will be used in exceptional circumstances only, and the issuing of penalty notices in these circumstances can only be authorized by a senior officer (contact earlyhelp@southwark.gov.uk). 

Page last updated: 07 November 2024

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