Holidays in Term Time – Leave of absence  

If you are planning on taking your child out of school during term time, a leave of absence form must be completed. Please ask the school office.

Holidays will not be authorised during term time. Following school procedure, a referral linked to the leave of absence will be forwarded to the Local Authority attendance monitoring team and you may be liable to a Fixed Penalty Notice. 

What is a Penalty Notice? 

Under existing legislation, parents/carers commit an offence if a child fails to attend regularly, and the absences are classed as unauthorised (those for which the school cannot or has not given permission). Depending on circumstances, such cases may result in prosecution under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996. A Penalty Notice is an alternative to prosecution, which does not require an appearance in Court whilst still securing an improvement in a pupil’s attendance. Payment of a Penalty Notice enables parents to discharge potential liability for conviction. 

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 the 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 three-year period will begin on the date of issue of the first penalty notice. 

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.