Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Iqbal Mohamed (Independent (affiliation)) on Friday, 4 September 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 8 September 2026. It was answered by Paul Waugh (Labour) on Friday, 11 September 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of school attendance Fixed Penalty Notices issued in the most recent year for which data is available were preceded by documented support interventions under the Department's support first approach.

Answer

The department does not collect data on the support interventions undertaken before individual penalty notices are issued.

The government’s approach is that schools and local authorities should work with families to understand and address the barriers to attendance before considering legal intervention.

Statutory guidance makes clear that a penalty notice should normally be considered only where support has not worked, has not been engaged with or is not appropriate, as is usually the case for an unauthorised term-time holiday. Such holidays accounted for 93% of penalty notices in the latest year for which data are available.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
27345
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Absenteeism Fixed penalties Pupils
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk