News

Absence thresholds: New £80 fines will hit disadvantaged pupils hardest

Attendance Poverty Legislation and guidance Government policy
The families of one in five pupils would have received fines for school absence if new government thresholds had been implemented in 2022/23, with those living in poverty with SEND hit hardest.
Image: Adobe Stock -

A national framework for parental fines is being introduced from September with fines of £80 for any pupil who misses 10 or more half-days within any 10-week period.

An analysis published this week (Bibby & Thomson, 2024) and based on attendance data from almost 10,000 schools considered the number of pupils who would have broken this new threshold in 2022/23.

While the results show that the bulk of fines would have been given to secondary-age pupils, at primary level 15% of primary pupils would have broken the threshold in years 3 to 6, with a slightly higher proportion being fined in years 1 and 2. The highest rate of fines would have been in Reception (around 17%).

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