One minute guide: School attendance - statutory responsibilities

Why attendance is important

Regular attendance is fundamental to children’s rights, wellbeing, and future opportunities. The right to education is protected in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in UK law (Section 7, Education Act 1996). Parents and carers have a legal duty to ensure their child receives a suitable education, either through regular school attendance or by providing education otherwise, such as through elective home education. 

When this responsibility is not met, the local authority has a statutory duty to uphold children’s rights to full‑time education. In some cases, this includes using legal powers where non‑attendance persists despite exhaustive support.

Under the Department for Education’s Working Together to Improve School Attendance guidance, schools are expected to have clear, proactive processes to identify irregular attendance early, work in partnership with families, and provide support to remove barriers to attending. Attendance below 90% is recognised nationally as a cause for concern, requiring timely action to understand why and help the child return to regular attendance.

Strong evidence shows that good attendance is closely linked to positive outcomes. Missing school increases the risk of children falling behind academically, reduces later educational and post‑16 opportunities, and can limit future life chances. Because of this strong association, improving school attendance remains a key priority for Leeds Children and Families; improving attendance is often the gateway to improving a child or young person’s wider wellbeing and long‑term outcomes. 

What Children and Families Services in Leeds do to support improved attendance

Leeds Children and Families recognise that poor school attendance can be both a cause and a symptom of wider, often complex, difficulties in a child or young person’s life. When concerns arise, schools should work proactively with families to explore the underlying barriers to regular attendance and offer early, practical support to overcome them.

Where a child’s needs require a coordinated response from more than one service, schools can escalate support through their local Cluster, consider an Early Help Plan, or seek involvement from social care. This ensures families receive timely, integrated support that addresses both educational and wider wellbeing needs.

The Leeds School Attendance Team provides schools with specialist advice, guidance and training on all aspects of attendance. The team offers direct support to parents and carers,  assists families to apply for school places, and undertakes statutory legal intervention processes where non‑attendance escalates and thresholds for legal action are met. The school attendance team also contributes to wider attendance improvement through briefings, targeted support meetings, register checks, and regular updates via Leeds for Learning. Further information, resources, and training opportunities are accessible through Leeds for Learning, including articles, statutory guidance briefings, and good‑practice materials.

Legal intervention will only be considered when all avenues of support have been fully explored and exhausted, in line with statutory guidance and Local Authority expectation. 

Possible legal consequences for parents whose children miss school

There are a number of statutory options available to the local authority for parents whose children miss school:

• penalty notices, fines of £80 or £160, have been available to the local authority since 2007, but their use has increased since the change in legislation around unauthorised absence in term time; see the current statutory guidance, Working Together to Improve School Attendance (2024). The local authority can prosecute parents in the Magistrates Court for non-payment of penalty notices, which can lead to a fine of up to £1000, a Parenting Order, and a criminal record;
• the local authority can apply to the Family Court for an Education Supervision Order, which means that the local authority can act directly on behalf of the child to ensure they attend school, removing some parental rights; and
• the local authority can also submit a case directly to the Magistrates Court. There are two types of such prosecution and, if found guilty of the most serious offence, parents can face a fine of up to £2,500 and a community rehabilitation order, or even a custodial sentence of up to 3 months.

Statutory guidance for schools and local authorities on improving school attendance was published in August 2024.

Printable version

• School attendance - statutory responsibilities
  (PDF, 412KB)