Schools in England must record attendance at every morning and afternoon session. If your child misses school without authorisation, the school is required to follow up and may refer persistent cases to the local authority, which can issue a penalty notice. Understanding how the rules work helps parents act quickly and avoid unnecessary escalation.
How does the law define compulsory school attendance?
In England, children must attend school from the term after their fifth birthday. Compulsory school age ends on the last Friday in June in the academic year in which a young person turns 16. Beyond that, there is a separate post-16 participation requirement: all young people must remain in some form of education, employment, or training until the age of 18. This may be school sixth form, a college, an apprenticeship, or another approved route — but it does not carry the same attendance enforcement mechanisms as compulsory schooling.
Parents of children of compulsory school age have a legal duty to ensure their child receives a full-time education, either at a registered school or through suitable education otherwise than at school (such as home education). Failure to fulfil this duty can lead to legal action.
What is the difference between authorised and unauthorised absence?
Every absence from school falls into one of two categories:
Authorised absence is absence that the headteacher has approved. Common examples include:
- Illness (the most frequent reason)
- Medical or dental appointments that cannot be arranged outside school hours
- Religious observance days recognised by the school
- Exceptional family circumstances (a bereavement, for example)
- Traveller pupils following the travelling schedule
Unauthorised absence is any absence that the school has not approved. This includes holidays taken without the headteacher's permission, "duvet days" with no reason given, persistent lateness that results in a missed registration, and any absence where the reason provided is deemed insufficient by the school.
Only the headteacher can authorise an absence. Parents do not have the right to authorise their own child's absence — the decision rests entirely with the school.
What is persistent absence?
The Department for Education defines persistent absence as attendance below 90% in an academic year. The school year in England is 190 days (380 sessions), so persistent absence begins when a child has missed more than 19 days across the year, for any combination of authorised and unauthorised reasons.
A further category — severe absence — was introduced in recent years for students missing more than half of their schooling (below 50% attendance).
| Attendance level | Category | Typical response |
|---|---|---|
| 96–100% | Good / excellent | No action required |
| 90–95% | Below average | Monitoring; school may contact parents |
| Below 90% | Persistent absence | Formal support plan; possible referral to local authority |
| Below 50% | Severe absence | Intensive multi-agency intervention |
Persistent absence does not automatically lead to prosecution, but it triggers a formal response from the school and, in many cases, involvement from the local authority's attendance support team or education welfare officers (EWOs).
What are penalty notices and when are they issued?
Since September 2024, England has operated a national framework for penalty notices — replacing the previous system under which different local authorities applied very different thresholds and fines.
Under the current framework, a penalty notice can be issued when a pupil accumulates 10 or more sessions (5 or more days) of unauthorised absence within any rolling 10-school-week period. The 10 weeks can span term boundaries and do not need to be consecutive.
The penalty structure is:
- First penalty notice: £80 per parent if paid within 21 days; rising to £160 if paid within 28 days
- Second penalty notice (within 3 years of the first): £160 per parent (no reduced rate for early payment)
- Third or subsequent offence within 3 years: the local authority moves to prosecution rather than issuing a further penalty notice
Each parent or carer with parental responsibility receives a separate notice. For a two-parent household with one child, a single absence event that triggers the threshold results in two penalty notices.
Can parents take children on holiday during term time?
Headteachers may only authorise term-time leave in "exceptional circumstances". In practice, almost all schools refuse such requests as a matter of policy. Courts have upheld penalty notices and prosecutions for even a single day of term-time absence taken without approval — including cases where the holiday was claimed to be cheaper, an annual tradition, or a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
If a family takes a holiday during term time without permission and the absence is recorded as unauthorised, the local authority may issue a penalty notice once the unauthorised sessions exceed the national threshold. Parents who do not pay face prosecution in the magistrates' court, with a possible fine of up to £2,500 per parent.
When is absence authorised?
Illness is the most common authorised reason for absence. Schools do not require medical evidence for short-term illness, though they may request a GP letter or other documentation for frequent or extended periods of sickness. A pattern of Monday or Friday illness with no medical evidence may prompt the school to ask more questions.
Other commonly authorised reasons include medical or dental appointments (where these cannot be scheduled out of school hours), religious festivals observed by the family's faith community, and, in genuine cases, bereavement leave. Longer absences — for example, for a child receiving treatment for a serious illness — can be authorised by the school and often involve the local authority providing home tuition or hospital schooling.
How to support your child back into school after a long absence
If your child has been absent for an extended period — whether due to illness, anxiety, or other circumstances — a reintegration plan agreed between parents and school is the most effective approach. Useful steps include:
- Contact the school's SENCO or head of year early to discuss a phased return rather than expecting full attendance from day one
- Request a formal reintegration plan in writing, setting out reduced hours, support in lessons, and agreed review points
- Ask about any missed work and whether catch-up sessions or extra support will be provided
- Involve your GP or a mental health professional if the absence is related to anxiety, school phobia, or emotional difficulties — the school may be able to make a referral to the local authority's inclusion or SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health) team
- Keep communication open and regular so the school can see your child's progress and adjust the plan if needed
Local authorities have a duty to ensure all children of compulsory school age receive a suitable education, and EWOs are trained to support families through difficult periods, not simply to issue fines.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as an attendance session?
The school day is divided into two sessions: a morning session (usually registration before 9 am) and an afternoon session (usually registration after the lunch break). Each session counts separately. A child who attends school in the morning but goes home ill at lunchtime would have one session marked as present and one as absent. A full week of school attendance equals 10 sessions.
How is attendance percentage calculated?
Attendance percentage is calculated as the number of sessions attended divided by the total number of sessions the school was open, multiplied by 100. If a school has been open for 380 sessions in a year (190 days × 2) and a child attended 342, their attendance rate is 342 ÷ 380 × 100 = 90%. Sessions missed due to authorised absence (such as illness) count against the attendance percentage in the same way as unauthorised absence, though they do not count towards the unauthorised absence threshold that triggers a penalty notice.
Can I be taken to court over my child's school attendance?
Yes. If unauthorised absence continues beyond the penalty notice stage, or if a parent does not pay a penalty notice within the 28-day window, the local authority can prosecute the parent in the magistrates' court under section 444 of the Education Act 1996. A conviction can result in a fine of up to £2,500 per parent and, in serious cases, a community order. Prosecution is relatively rare and is typically a last resort after other interventions have failed, but it does happen and is taken seriously by courts.
What if my child is too anxious to attend school?
School anxiety, sometimes called school avoidance or Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA), is increasingly recognised by schools and local authorities as a complex issue requiring support rather than simply enforcement. If your child is missing school due to anxiety, speak to the school's SENCO or pastoral lead as soon as possible. Ask about a gradual reintegration plan, reduced timetable, or access to in-school mental health support. Penalty notices are generally not the first response where a school can see that a family is engaging genuinely and the absence is linked to an identified emotional difficulty.
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