School attendance and absences

If your child is between the ages of five and 16 you are legally responsible for making sure they get a suitable full-time education.

There’s a clear link between levels of school attendance and student achievement. Good attendance is vital to your child’s future. 

You can only allow your child to miss school if either:

• they’re too ill to go in
• you’ve got advance permission from the school because of exceptional circumstances.

It is not acceptable to miss school for things like: 

• holidays in term time
• birthdays
• shopping trips.

You should never assume a request to take your child out of school will be granted.

The GOV.UK website has guidance on your responsibilities for making sure your child attends school regularly.

Your child’s school will want to speak with you about any unauthorised absence. You are committing an offence if your child misses school regularly because of unauthorised absences.

Our Education Welfare Service (EWS) may also be in touch.

The EWS has legal powers to give parents:

• a formal warning
• an Education Penalty Notice (EPN) - a £120 fine which is reduced to £60 if paid within 21 days
• an Education Supervision Order
• a Parenting Order.

In very serious cases the EWS will prosecute.

The GOV.UK website has more information on these legal powers.

If your child is regularly missing school (attendance of 85 percent or less):

• the school will contact an Education Welfare Officer (EWO) from the EWS if it has not been possible to resolve the attendance issues

Our guide to school attendance explains more about the steps that can be taken.

If your child takes unauthorised term time leave for something such as a holiday:

• the school can make a referral to the EWS and you can expect to receive a formal warning or £120 penalty notice

Our guide to penalties for unauthorised term time leave has more information for parents.

The Education Act 1996 allows local authorities to issue penalty notices to parents as an alternative to prosecution. If you receive an Education Penalty Notice (EPN) you can pay it online.

The way you pay an Education Penalty Notice online is changing

From 1 December 2023, if you recieve an Education Penalty Notice you will need to use our new online payment form to pay the fine.  Your EPN will include an 11 digit reference number starting with FS. We will no longer send an invoice with the EPN letter.

Fines received before 1 December 2023

For EPN notices dated before 1 December 2023, you should pay it using the old payment form.

Failure to pay a fixed penalty notice will result in prosecution for the original offence of failure to ensure school attendance (see Section 444 of the Education Act 1996).

There is no statutory right of appeal against an Education Penalty Notice.

Children missing education (CME) are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school.

Our Education Welfare Service is on hand to provide schools with information they need to take immediate action and risk assess children missing education.

This also includes advice on when schools should make referrals to Brent Family Front Door or call the police. The EWS will take referrals from schools for CME on the 3rd day of absence.

Refer a child

Complete Assessment and Referral Form

Guidance for schools

Schools without a Service Level Agreement with the Education Welfare Service (EWS) can download guidance on children missing education .