Code of conduct for education related penalty notices

Rationale

Regular and punctual attendance at school is both a legal requirement and essential for pupils to maximise the educational opportunities available to them.

Penalty notices are one of several important additions to the interventions available to promote better school attendance. Improving attendance is essential to improve a child's educational prospects and to avoid putting them at risk of criminal or anti-social behaviour.

This code of conduct is a requirement of The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007 including amendments to the regulations in 2013 and 2024. The code ensures that the powers to issue penalty notices are applied consistently and fairly across the Local Authority area and that suitable arrangements are in place for the administration of the scheme.

This code supersedes all previous Local Authority documentation and codes regarding fixed penalty notices.

Circumstances where a penalty notice may be issued

Penalty notices are intended to provide an early intervention to deter patterns of unauthorised absence developing. Parents and pupils are supported both at school and at Local Authority level to overcome irregular attendance and any of the sanctions available are only for use when there is no parental co-operation, or it is not sufficient to resolve the difficulties.

Circumstances in which a penalty notice may be a suitable intervention will include:

Parentally condoned absence.
A pupil is taken out of school during term-time where this has not been authorised by the head teacher or no request for authorisation has been sought.
Persistent lateness, after the register has closed.
Unwarranted delayed return from leave of absence (without school agreement).
Being in a public place during school hours without reasonable justification during the first 5 days of any exclusion. For an exclusion of less than 5 days, this applies for the whole of the excluded period.

The above list is not exhaustive.

Procedure for issuing penalty notices

Penalty notices are issued by the Attendance Monitoring Team in South Tyneside. This will ensure a fair and consistent delivery, maintain home-school relationships, avoid the issue of duplicate notices and ensure that penalty notices are used effectively alongside other enforcement sanctions.

Penalty notices may be requested by schools, police and neighbouring local authorities. These requests will be actioned providing:

The pupil has recorded at least 10 sessions (5 school days which do not need to be consecutive) of unauthorised absence in the most recent 10 school weeks, 50 days.
Circumstances of the absence meet the criteria laid out in the agreed code of conduct.
All relevant information is supplied, in writing and in line with the agreed code of conduct.
The request for a penalty notice does not conflict with other intervention strategies or other enforcement action already in place.

Requests according to the above criteria will be actioned within 10 school days by the local authority through the following process:

Parents will normally receive a formal written warning (Notice to Improve) within a period of 3 to 6 school weeks - flexible on a case-by-case basis and inclusive of any non-school days i.e. public holidays. This will be reviewed on an individual basis at the 3-week mark, within which the pupil must have no further unauthorised absence or has had sufficient improvement to prevent the possibility of a penalty notice being issued.
The Attendance Monitoring team will monitor attendance and, at the end of 3 to 6 weeks - flexible on a case-by-case basis, where further cases of unauthorised absence / little or no improvement have occurred, a penalty notice will be issued using First Class post.
A Penalty Notice Warning (Notice to Improve) is a final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before a penalty notice is issued. If the national threshold has been met and support is appropriate but offers of support have not been engaged with by the parent or have not worked, a Penalty Notice Warning (Notice to Improve) may be sent to give parents a final chance to engage in support. A Penalty Notice Warning (Notice to Improve) does not need to be issued in cases where support is not appropriate and an authorised officer can choose not to use one in any case, including cases where support is appropriate but they do not expect a Penalty Notice Warning (Notice to Improve) would have any behavioural impact (e.g. because the parent has already received one for a similar offence).
Where a Penalty Notice Warning (Notice to Improve) is used, it will be issued in line with processes set out in the Local Code of Conduct for the local authority area in which the pupil attends school.
The Notice to Improve is expected to include:
Details of the pupil's attendance record and details of the offences.
The benefits of regular attendance and parents' duty under section 7 of the Education Act 1996.
Details of the support provided or offered so far.
Opportunities for further support and the option to access previously provided support that was not engaged with.
A clear warning that a penalty notice may be issued, or prosecution considered if attendance improvement is not secured within the improvement period.
A clear period for the improvement period of between 3 and 6 weeks.
Details of what sufficient improvement within that period will look like.
The grounds on which a penalty notice may be issued before the end of the improvement period.
What sufficient improvement looks like can be decided on a case-by-case basis taking the individual family's circumstances into account. For some families, no further unauthorised absences will be appropriate, for others some absence may be tolerable if considerable improvement is seen. Details of what sufficient improvement for each case will be made clear in the Notice to Improve.
Where improvement is not being made, it may be appropriate to issue a penalty notice before the improvement period has ended. For example, a Penalty Notice Warning (Notice to Improve) stated there should be no further unauthorised absences in a 3-week period, but the pupil is absent for unauthorised reasons in the first week. The parent should be informed before a penalty notice is issued if it is before the end of the improvement period.

In exceptional circumstances, no warning will be issued i.e. the deliberate taking of leave of absence during term-time without the written permission of the Head Teacher or other authorised person. This will apply where it can be clearly demonstrated that permission had/would not be given, and where this has created an unauthorised absence of at least 10 sessions (5 days which do not need to be consecutive) within a 10 week period.

N.B. Two penalty notice limit and escalation in cases of repeat offences.

A penalty notice is an out of court settlement which is intended to change behaviour without the need for criminal prosecution. If repeated penalty notices are being issued and they are not working to change behaviour they are unlikely to be most appropriate tool. Therefore, from autumn term 2024, only 2 penalty notices can be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within a 3-year rolling period and any second notice within that period is charged at a higher rate:

The first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular pupil will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.

A second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.

A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of issue of the first. In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within those 3 years, alternative action should be taken instead. This will often include considering prosecution but may include other tools such as one of the other attendance legal interventions.

Once 3 years has elapsed since the first penalty notice was issued a further penalty notice can be issued, but in most cases, it would not be the most effective tool for changing what may have now become an entrenched pattern of behaviour.

For the escalation process, previous penalty notices include those not paid (including where prosecution was taken forward and the parent pleaded or was found guilty) but not those which were withdrawn.

In cases where a pupil has moved school or local authority area in the previous 3 years an additional check should be made to try and ascertain whether previous penalty notices have been issued to the parent in respect of the pupil.

Where the pupil's previous school was in the same local authority area this check will be simple. If the pupil has moved between local authorities in the previous 3 years and the previous local authority/authorities is known, they should be contacted to check whether a penalty notice has been issued to that parent for that pupil in the previous 3 years. These checks can be made by the school and / or local authority depending on the agreed local process.

In cases where the previous local authority is not known or the information cannot be, or is not, provided by the previous local authority, it should be assumed that the parent has not previously received a penalty notice and the escalation process started as a new case.

A penalty notice will not be issued when proceedings under Section 444 of the Education Act are being contemplated or have been commenced by the Local Authority.

Within this code, 'parent' is defined as in Section 576 of the Education Act 1996. This includes individuals who have parental responsibility for a child such as all natural "biological" parents, whether they are married or not; any person who, although not a natural parent, has parental responsibility for a child or young person; any person who, although not a natural parent, has care of a child or young person.

'School hours' are defined as "a school session or the break between sessions on the same school day."

'A public place' means any highway or any other public place to which the public have access. A school is not a public place for this purpose.

Withdrawal of penalty notice

Once issued, a penalty notice can only be withdrawn in the following circumstances:

Where it ought not to have been issued (for example, the issuing of the penalty notice did not conform with this code of conduct); or
Where it has been issued to the wrong person; or
It contains material errors.
Where after the expiry of 28 days the penalty notice remains unpaid, and the LA has not started legal proceedings or wishes to take such action under section 444 of the education act.

Payment of a penalty notice

Payment arrangements will be detailed on the penalty notice.

The first penalty notice is raised at the rate of £160.00 per "parent" for each child of the family that meets the criteria as detailed above. Payment is required within 28 days of issue. Notices paid within the first 21 days of issue are discounted to £80.00. Notices cannot be paid in instalments.

The second penalty notice is raised at the rate of £160 per "parent" for each child of the family that meets the criteria a detailed above. Payment is required within 28 days of issue. There is no discounted rate. Notices cannot be paid in instalments.

No reminders will be issued either orally or in writing.

Payment of a penalty notice discharges the parent's liability for conviction for the unauthorised absences in the period in question, and they cannot be prosecuted for the period covered by the penalty notice.

If the penalty notice is not paid in full by the end of the 28-day period, the Local Authority will prosecute for the offence under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 for non-attendance notices, or section 103 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 for exclusion-related notices, unless it can be withdrawn in accordance with the circumstances above.

Where the penalty notice is not paid in full by the end of the 28-day period, and the Local Authority has not commenced proceedings against the parent for the offence contained in the notice, nor is contemplating such proceedings, the Local Authority must withdraw the penalty notice.

Monies collected will be retained by the Local Authority to be used for administration of the penalty notice system and prosecution. Any surplus left after this will be spent on attendance support. In practice, support means any other activity to improve attendance short of a penalty notice or prosecution.

Publicity

All school attendance policies will include information on the deployment of penalty notices, and this will be brought to the attention of all parents.

The Local Authority will include information on the use of penalty notices and other attendance enforcement sanctions in promotional / public information material.

Review

The use of penalty notices will be reviewed annually, and changes will be made to the general enforcement strategy as appropriate.

General

This code of conduct is drawn up in accordance with the provisions of The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007 and amendments to the regulations 2024, having regard to the guidance issued by the Secretary of State and in consultation with head teachers, governing bodies of all schools maintained by the Education Authority and the chief officers of police for the local policing areas within the borough of South Tyneside.

To be reviewed September 2025.