School attendance

A fixed penalty notice is an alternative to prosecution in the magistrate's court. It gives you the opportunity to pay a fine for committing an offence, instead of being taken to court and prosecuted.

Norfolk County Council issues fixed penalty notices for unauthorised absence from school on behalf of headteachers. If you have questions about a fixed penalty notice you have received, you should contact your child's school.

We issue fixed penalty notices in line with the National Framework for penalty notices, as outlined in the DfE statutory guidance Working together to improve school attendance and our local code of conduct.

When we will issue a fixed penalty notice

We issue fixed penalty notices for unauthorised absence when a child has:

• Missed school to go on holiday during term-time, and the absence was not authorised by the headteacher
• Arrived at school after registration for that session has closed, and their absence has been recorded with a 'U'
• Regularly missed school without authorisation, and our attendance team have agreed that issuing a fixed penalty notice is an appropriate early intervention tool to improve the child's attendance

National threshold

The National Framework for Penalty Notices sets out the maximum number of penalty notices which may be issued by a local authority to each parent, for any child, in any three-year period.

To ensure consistent delivery of the code of conduct, schools must consider whether a penalty notice should be issued when the national framework criteria applies. This threshold has been met where a pupil has been recorded as absent for at least ten sessions (usually equivalent to five school days) due to unauthorised absence within ten school weeks.

A maximum of two penalty notices per child, per parent can be issued within a rolling three-year period. The national framework also sets out the escalation process which applies to such penalty notices. If the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within three years, another tool should be used. In Norfolk, where a child's attendance has met the national threshold for a third time within three years and the parent/s have already been issued with two penalty notices within that period, consideration will be given to prosecution under section 444 Education Act 1996.

The three-year period and applicable escalation of fines begins from the date on which the first penalty notice is issued. For example, if the first penalty notice is issued on 18 September 2024, charged at £160 if paid within 28 days and reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days, any second penalty notice issued to that parent in respect of that child, on or before the 17 September 2027, would be charged at £160, payable within 28 days. A third penalty notice could not be issued to that parent in respect of that child within the three-year timeframe and, in cases where the national threshold is met for a third or subsequent time, alternative action should be considered.

In line with national guidance, the Local Authority retains the discretion to issue a penalty notice before the threshold is met. This might apply for example, where parents have taken several term time holidays below the national threshold. We also retain the discretion to consider going straight to prosecution where appropriate.

Who will get a fixed penalty notice?

The Council will issue a fixed penalty notice to each of the child's parents.

Under the Education Act 1996, a parent is:

• A biological parent of the child — even if they do not have parental responsibility for the child or live with the child
• Any adult who is not a biological parent but has parental responsibility for the child. This includes adoptive parents, step-parents, and carers.
• Someone the child lives with who looks after the child

Receiving a fixed penalty notice

We send fixed penalty notices by first class post. We judge them as being received two days after they are sent.

If you claim that you have not received a penalty notice issued to you and your claim is credible, we will:

• Resend the original notice, and
• Allow time for you to pay the original fine of £80/£60

Paying the fine

The first penalty notice issued to a parent for a child will be charged at £160 to be paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. Where it is deemed appropriate to issue a second penalty notice, the second penalty notice to the same parent for the same child within three years of the first offence, is charged at a flat rate of £160 and is payable within 28 days. There is no reduced sum available in this instance.

If you do not pay within 28 days, we will prosecute you for your child's absence from school. 

You can pay by debit or credit card. The penalty notice will include details on how to make payment. 

You must pay the fine in full - we cannot arrange for you to pay in instalments. This is because we must follow the legal timeline for issuing fixed penalty notices. 

Challenging a fixed penalty notice

Only a headteacher can authorise absence from school.

If there are exceptional reasons for your child's absence which you have not made the school aware of, you should contact the headteacher.

The headteacher may reconsider authorising your child's absence based on this new information. They are not required to do this if you did not request authorisation for the absence in advance.

If the headteacher maintains that the absence was unauthorised, the fixed penalty notice will still apply.

If your appeal to the headteacher is unsuccessful, you can ask for your case to be heard in the magistrate's court. If the court finds your guilty, you will get a criminal conviction, and the fine you have to pay may increase.

Withdrawing a fixed penalty notice

We will only withdraw a fixed penalty notice if:

• There is proof that the notice was issued to the wrong person
• The notice was issued outside of the terms of the Council's code of conduct for issuing fixed penalties regarding school attendance (Word doc, 145 KB)
• The notice contains material errors — information that is false or misleading
• The notice remains unpaid, and we decide not to proceed with prosecution under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996.