
This article from Louise Turner, Senior Consultant CILEX Lawyer, explores the topic of prosecutions that can follow a child of compulsory school age failing to attend school.
What does the law say about children who fail to attend school?
For my clients, these proceedings can be extremely stressful and highly emotive, usually coming at a time when a family is already at crisis point.
Section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 sets out the criminal offence of Failure to Secure Regular Attendance of a Registered Pupil.
If a child of compulsory school age who is a registered pupil at a school fails to attend regularly at the school, his parent is guilty of an offence.
Further, if the child’s parent knows that their child is failing to attend regularly at the school and fails to cause him to do so, they are guilty of an offence.
It is however a defence in law for a person charged with an offence of this nature to prove that they had a reasonable justification for their failure to cause the child to attend regularly at the school.
Statutory excuses also include:
- Leave of Absence, given by an authorised person;
- Sickness of the child (not the parent);
- Unavoidable cause affecting the child, usually an emergency;
- Day of religious observance;
- No suitable transport arrangements made by the local authority, when the school is not in walking distance;
- Child is of no fixed abode, and:
- Parent has itinerant trade, etc;
- Child has attended as regularly as trade permitted; and
- Child is over 6 years of age and has over 200 attendances in the 12 months before the summons.
What happens if a parent is convicted?
If a parent is convicted of this offence, the court may impose a financial penalty of up to a level 3 fine (£1000).
But not just that, remember that if you plead guilty or are found guilty after trial of this offence, you will have a criminal conviction. This can affect your life in many ways, particularly in connection with your employment/travel opportunities if you are subject to background checks, often referred to as DBS checks.
Help with school attendance cases
I regularly represent parents who are due before the Magistrates Court in respect of these proceedings. Most commonly, they will be families who are already having a difficult time, often due to their child having special education needs (SEN) or significant mental health issues which means that, through no fault of their own, they are unable to attend school on a regular basis or at all.
I find the parents I represent in these types of proceedings are very loving, caring, and committed parents who genuinely want the best for their children. Most importantly, they want their child to be able to access and enjoy receiving an education but are at a loss as to how to achieve that and feel isolated. Sometimes, the school may be unsuitable for the child and unable to meet their complex needs, or the child has borderline issues which means they ‘fall through the cracks’ in the education system and simply cannot flourish in the educational environment they are required to attend.
Often, the system is overwhelmed and professional services responsible for assessing children’s needs are stretched and have huge waiting lists. This can mean the child and their parents are left struggling in a state of limbo in the meantime, which often leads to the breakdown of communications between parents and schools, who also are at a loss as to how to support the child to attend school regularly. It is a vicious circle.
I find a common thread in all the cases I deal with is that the issues of the child, whatever they may be and whether diagnosed or not, can paint a different picture as to why the child is not attending school regularly, when fully investigated.
Through a process of investigation, evidence gathering, analysis, and careful drafting of written representations and legal submissions, I have been successful in persuading the prosecuting local authority to withdraw/discontinue their prosecutions in respect of many of my clients. I have also been successful in applying for a proportion of my client’s defence costs, by way of a Defence Costs Order upon the conclusion of the proceedings.
As schools and local authorities place greater importance on good school attendance and impose increased fines (fixed penalty notices) on parents whose children are not attending school regularly, I anticipate we will see an increase in these types of criminal prosecutions.
Should you find that your child’s school attendance is being brought into question and you are worried and would like to seek advice from an expert in this area of law, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am happy to offer all prospective clients a free of charge 15-minute telephone call to see how I may be able to assist. If nothing else, hopefully you will feel more informed and positive after our call.
Client testimonial for School Attendance cases:
“Firstly can I say a huge thank you for all you have done for us. I really appreciate it. You don’t know what a difference you have made to our family.
I am also at a loss for words re the latter part of your email. The system is very frustrating, but I never expected you to act on our behalf to try and get partial costs back. Thank you very much for this and look forward to hearing from you.”
Case Successes for failing to send child to school
February 2024:
Louise Turner secures success in withdrawal of case by the prosecution of Failure to Secure Regular Attendance of Child at School. Louise avoided her client needing to attend court at all and managed to persuade the prosecuting local authority to withdraw their prosecution before the first court hearing date.
May 2024:
Louise Turner secures no further action for her clients, mother and father of son who had been unable to attend school regularly due to his special educational needs. Louise secured an adjournment of the court proceedings to create an opportunity to draft and submit lengthy written representations and supporting evidence to the prosecuting local authority.
June 2024:
Louise Turner secures no further action for her clients, mother and father of daughter who had been unable to attend school regularly due to her special educational needs and mental health issues. Through meticulous investigation, preparation and presentation of evidence and drafting written representations, the prosecuting authority decided to withdraw their prosecution.