School absence fines rise while prosecutions fall

Hartlepool Borough Council said legal sanctions were considered “only as a last resort”

A local authority has issued 187 fines over school absences, according to latest figures.

Hartlepool Borough Council's attendance team also prosecuted on 96 occasions in the academic year 2022/23.

During the previous year, 118 penalty notices were issued, with 109 prosecutions.

Council chiefs stressed they were “working really hard” to improve attendance figures, with legal sanctions considered “only as a last resort”.

Parents and carers can receive a penalty notice of up to £120 for a period of unauthorised absence, the council said.

A Hartlepool mother was recently handed a £926 court bill covering a fine, victim surcharge and prosecution costs after being convicted of failing to regularly send her daughter to school, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'Societal change'

The figures were provided in a report which went before the latest meeting of the council’s children’s services committee.

Officers underlined the local authority and schools were “working closely” with a Department for Education (DfE) attendance adviser “looking at the barriers preventing school attendance and what actions can be taken”.

Statistics for secondary schools and academies showed the attendance rate for pupils in Hartlepool was 89.3% for 2022/23, below the national average of 91.0% and down on the 90.1% recorded in 2021/22.

The level of “persistent absence” for secondary schools - defined as an attendance rate of 90% or less - also rose to 31.7% from 29.6% last year, compared with a current national average of 27.7%.

However, attendance at primary schools improved to 93.9% from 93.6% in 2021/22, above the national average of 93.7%.

Jackie Webb, inclusion coordinator at the coalition-led council, said the “main reasons” for absence were illness, unauthorised holidays in term time, unauthorised absences and suspensions or exclusions.

The meeting also heard many are seeing a “societal change in parental attitude toward school attendance” following the Covid-19 pandemic, attributed to the change in working patterns of parents and carers.