School attendance enforcement

Please provide data for the three most recent full academic year for which you hold records, relating to school attendance enforcement.

1. Penalty notices (fines)

Please provide:

a) The total number of penalty notices issued for school attendance offences.

b) The number of individual parents who received:

exactly one penalty notice, exactly two penalty notices, three or more penalty notices

2. Escalation to prosecution

Please provide:

a) The number of parents whose case was escalated to prosecution under Section 444(1) or Section 444(1A) of the Education Act 1996.

b) The number of parents who were eligible for prosecution (e.g., unpaid penalty notices or continued unauthorised absence) but whose case did not proceed, and the reasons recorded.

c) The number of parents who were pending prosecution at the end of each academic year.

Please confirm:

a) Whether the local authority maintains an internal record of repeat penalty notice recipients.

b) Whether you hold any internal guidance or policy documents on escalation thresholds (e.g., when a second or third fine triggers legal action). If so, please provide these documents.

If this is too extensive, please prioritise 1. Penalty notices (fines) and 2. Escalation to prosecution

1.

a-b. 2024/2025 – 6,091 1 Penalty Notice – 5,888  two Penalty Notices – 203  three Penalty Notices - 0

2023/2024 – 5,123

2022/2023 – 3,576

Data on number of Penalty Notices per year only available for 2024/2025 following statutory duty to collect.

2.

a. 267 in 2024/2025, 382 in 2023/2024 and 274 in 2022/2023.

b. Some data for withdrawal for 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 can be found at: https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexplore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk%2Fdata-tables%2Fparental-responsibility-measures%2F2023-24%3FsubjectId%3Deddc47d7-3e6f-46d3-b071-08dd3bce44e0&data=05%7C02%7CJill.Chandar-Nair%40lincolnshire.gov.uk%7Cf3e03d6206704f0ac05c08de7865eb36%7Cb4e05b92f8ce46b59b2499ba5c11e5e9%7C0%7C0%7C639080576307884003%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=f2toQ0T7J8tUakBmro2eImdOnWfnp2ZKhZ%2BnEiMla04%3D&reserved=0

c. 55 in 2024/2025, two for 2023/2024 and two for 2022/2023.

a-b. This is national guidance, Working together to improve school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024) - https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b%2FWorking_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf&data=05%7C02%7CJill.Chandar-Nair%40lincolnshire.gov.uk%7C89385d81aae24617d3af08de75f4f9cb%7Cb4e05b92f8ce46b59b2499ba5c11e5e9%7C0%7C0%7C639077892175062434%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=N2mRiOap%2FmbAbIBFBq6yVFigxA%2BgQ0TLA56lUXgJ4q0%3D&reserved=0 and locally, Lincolnshire County Council Penalty Notice Code of Conduct - https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lincolnshire.gov.uk%2Fcouncil-business%2Ffixed-penalty-notices-code-conduct&data=05%7C02%7CJill.Chandar-Nair%40lincolnshire.gov.uk%7C89385d81aae24617d3af08de75f4f9cb%7Cb4e05b92f8ce46b59b2499ba5c11e5e9%7C0%7C0%7C639077892175082451%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=86s%2BuOZzCeQQdnjX9BfWo43%2F6r9ohW%2FTwD9oWAYDK6Y%3D&reserved=0