Pupils: Attendance

(asked on 19th March 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on the circumstances in which it is appropriate to prosecute a parent under section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 1st April 2020

From Friday 20 March, schools, colleges and early years settings?have been closed to everyone except children of key workers and vulnerable children, as part of the country’s ongoing response to COVID-19.

We have asked local authorities to suspend any penalty notice action or prosecutions for COVID-19 related absence with immediate effect. Local authorities should update their Code of Conduct for issuing penalty notices to make this clear. New cases should not be taken forward and any cases from 16 March should be withdrawn. This approach should also be applied to prosecutions for non-attendance.

Guidance has been issued on providing support for vulnerable children, including those with special educational needs or disabilities, during the current period of school closures. Schools, colleges, other training providers and local authorities will need to work with parents to make a risk assessment for each child and young person with an education, health and care plan and decide whether their needs should be met though the continuation of provision in their educational setting, or they are able to have their needs met at home.

The latest guidance for schools and other education settings can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings.

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