• Services and Support
• Pupil attendance
• • Allocation of EWS staff and services
  • Attendance Data
  • Education otherwise than at school
  • EWS Quality Standards
  • Fixed Penalty Notices
  • Guidance for schools
  • Referrals to EWS
  • Statutory action for non-school attendance
  • Strategy and partnership
  • Truancy watch

Statutory action for non-school attendance

Statutory action in response to pupil non-attendance: a summary of the approach of CEA@Islington’s Education Welfare Service (EWS).

CEA@Islington’s Education Welfare Service undertakes statutory action on behalf of the LEA in matters relating to unsatisfactory attendance at school.
The principles of EWS intervention are:

• Early intervention in a case of unsatisfactory attendance is the most effective way of improving the situation. Intervention may in the first instance be taken by one of the other agencies involved, but it is imperative that the case is referred to the EWS for possible court action at the earliest appropriate time.

• Legal action will be considered in all cases where the attendance is not satisfactory unless mitigating factors are evidenced.

• The EWS will continue to uphold that the parent is the person with the responsibility for ensuring that their child receives suitable education

• The EWS will continue to offer appropriate support both before and after legal action is taken

• The EWS will monitor and review all cases where legal action is taken to ensure that any subsequent action taken is appropriate

• The EWS will ensure that all parties including the school, the parent and the pupil contribute to the EWO’s assessment.
  

Fast Track to Prosecution
The ‘Fast Track to Prosecution Framework’ has recently been developed by the DfES, it is a time focused model which concentrates on the early intervention in cases of non-attendance. It aims to ensure that intervention strategies are put in place early and to ensure that parents who fail to co-operate or are unwilling to work with the school and EWS are identified sooner and action is taken to make sure that they take responsibility for their child’s school attendance.

Fixed penalty notices for non-school attendance
The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 introduced new powers for local education authorities, (delivered in Islington by CEA@Islington), headteachers (or authorized deputy and assistant heads) and the police to issue penalty notices in cases of unauthorised absence from school.
Regular and punctual attendance at school is both a legal requirement and essential for pupils to maximize their educational opportunities. In law, an offence occurs if a parent fails to secure their child’s attendance at school and that absence is not authorised by the school. Penalty notices supplement the existing sanctions currently available under S444 Education Act 1996 or S36 Children Act 1989 to enforce attendance at school where appropriate. Penalty notices are suitable for use where there is a reasonable expectation of a parent’s ability for causing improvement, and where parents are not co-operating in those measures being offered or recommended to improve the pupil’s attendance. Penalty notices are to be seen as a useful sanction at an early stage of intervention before attendance problems become entrenched. The issuing of penalty notices will be based on clear threshold criteria which will need to be applied consistently and equitably across the borough’s schools. Any person authorised to issue a notice in Islington must comply with the guidance set out in this code of conduct.

For more information please contact either:

Sue Greenwell
Senior Education Welfare Service Team Manager
Laycock Street
London N1 1TH
Tel: 020 7527 5621
e-mail: sue.greenwell.cea@islington.gov.uk

or

Ian Norman-Bruce
Head of EW&SWS
CEA@Islington
Lough Road
London
N7 8RH
Tel: 020 7527 5843
E-Mail: ian.norman-bruce.cea@islington.gov.uk