School Attendance: Fixed Penalty Notice Code of conduct
3.Legal Basis
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, alternative provision academies, and certain offsite places as set out in section 444A(1)(b).
The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007 (and subsequent amendments) set out how penalty notices for school absence must be used.
The law states that 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 constable.
The national framework for penalty notices is published in statutory guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ (2024) which provides national guidance on the operation of penalty notice schemes for school absence in England.
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)
