School Attendance Codes Explained, From I to U

Attendance letters are written in code, and the code decides everything. Whether a fine is possible, whether a session counts against your child, whether the number on the letter means what you think it means. Schools do not get to invent them: the codes and what each one counts as are set out in regulations and in statutory guidance.

This is what each one means, in the order you are likely to meet them.

The four codes that count against you

Only these are classified as unauthorised absence, and only unauthorised sessions build towards the threshold for a penalty notice.

If you have had a letter about unauthorised absence, these four are what it is counting. Everything else on this page is not.

Present, and treated as present

• / and Present at morning and afternoon registration.
• L Late arrival before the register closed. Classified as attending, not absence. The difference between L and U is minutes, which is why the closing time should be in the school’s attendance policy.
• B Attending an approved educational activity off site.
• V Educational visit or trip. P Sporting activity. W Work experience.
• D Dual registered at another school, so the other school records the attendance for that session.

Authorised absence

These are absences, but authorised ones. They do not count towards a fine.

• I Illness, covering both physical and mental health. Schools are not expected to routinely ask for medical evidence and should not have blanket rules requiring it.
• M Medical or dental appointment.
• C Leave of absence for exceptional circumstances, granted entirely at the school’s discretion, judged case by case.
• C1 Participating in a regulated performance or paid employment under a licence.
• C2 Leave of absence for a compulsory school age pupil on an agreed part-time timetable.
• R Religious observance on a day set apart by the religious body the parent belongs to.
• S Study leave for a public examination. J1 Attending an interview for employment or education.
• T Parent travelling for occupational purposes, for Traveller families.
• E Suspended or permanently excluded with no alternative provision arranged yet.

The codes that do not count at all

These are classified as “not a possible attendance”. The session is taken out of the calculation rather than counted against your child, because attending was not something your family could control.

• Q The pupil cannot attend because the council has a legal duty to arrange home to school travel and has not done it, including where it is still in the process of doing so. This one is worth knowing about. If transport has not been sorted, that is a Q, not an absence your child is responsible for.
• Y1 Transport normally provided is not available and the school is not within walking distance. Walking distance means 2 miles for a child under 8 and 3 miles for a child of 8 or over, by the nearest available route.
• Y2 Widespread disruption to travel from a local, national or international emergency.
• Y3 Part of the school premises unavoidably out of use. Y4 Whole site unexpectedly closed.
• Y5 The pupil is in criminal justice detention.
• Y6 Unable to attend in accordance with public health guidance or law. The pupil is well enough to attend, otherwise code I would be used.
• Y7 Any other unavoidable cause.
• X A pupil who is not of compulsory school age and is not required to attend that session.

Three things people get wrong

Late is not always the same. Arriving before the register closes is L and counts as present. Arriving after it closes is U and counts as unauthorised absence for the whole session. Ten late mornings after closing time is the fine threshold on its own.

Code N is temporary. It is only for the gap before the school knows why your child was out. It must be corrected within 5 school days, and if no reason is established it becomes O. A run of Ns sitting on a record months later is not right.

Authorised is a school decision, not a parental one. Telling the school why your child was absent does not by itself make it authorised. The school chooses the code, which is why it is worth checking what was actually recorded rather than assuming.

How to see your child’s codes

Ask the school office for a copy of the attendance record for the period in question, showing the codes session by session. Most systems produce this as a standard printout. If a code looks wrong, say which session and why, in writing. Registers can be amended, and the regulations expect them to be corrected when the right reason becomes known.

If sessions have been coded as unauthorised and you think they should be illness, what the guidance says about medical evidence is narrower than most parents are told. If a fine has been mentioned, the rules on penalty notices set out the threshold and the limits.

How common is this where you live

In 2024/25, 176,361 children in England missed at least half of school. See the absence figures for your council.

Common questions

Which attendance codes are unauthorised?

Four. Code G, holiday not granted by the school. Code N, reason not yet established. Code O, absent in other or unknown circumstances. Code U, arrived after the register closed. Only these build towards the threshold for a penalty notice.

What does code C2 mean on a school register?

Leave of absence for a compulsory school age pupil subject to a part-time timetable, agreed between the school and a parent the child normally lives with. It is classified as authorised absence, so those sessions do not count towards a fine.

What does code Q mean?

The pupil could not attend because the local authority has a legal duty to arrange home to school travel and has not done so, or because the child has no choice but to attend a school beyond walking distance that does not qualify for travel arrangements. It is classified as not a possible attendance, so it does not count against the child.

Does being late count as an absence?

It depends on the register. Arriving before the register closes is code L and counts as attending. Arriving after it closes is code U and counts as unauthorised absence for that whole session. A register should not be open for longer than 30 minutes.

How long can code N stay on my child’s record?

No more than 5 school days after the session. If the reason for absence cannot be established in that time, the school must amend the record to code O. Code N is not meant to be left on a record indefinitely.

Is mental health absence authorised?

Code I covers illness related to both physical and mental health, and is classified as authorised absence. Whether a particular session is coded I is still a decision for the school based on what it knows.

Sources

• Department for Education, Working together to improve school attendance, statutory guidance, July 2026 edition, chapter 8.
• The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, regulation 10 and Tables 1 to 4.
• The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, regulation 11.
• Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England, full academic year 2024/25, published 26 March 2026.