School Attendance Fines: The Rules in England for 2026/27

The fine is the part everyone has heard of and the part almost nobody has read. Most of what circulates is roughly right about the amount and completely wrong about how you get there, how many you can get, and what happens next.

This is the framework as it stands in the July 2026 guidance, without the scare stories.

What a penalty notice actually is

Under section 444 of the Education Act 1996, it is an offence for a parent to fail to secure the regular attendance of a child registered at a school. A penalty notice is an out of court settlement offered instead of prosecuting that offence. Paying it discharges the matter. The guidance is explicit that fines are:

“intended to prevent the need for court action and should only be used where it is deemed likely to change parental behaviour and support to secure regular attendance has been provided and has not worked or been engaged with, or would not have been appropriate in the circumstances of the offence.”

The example the guidance gives of a case where support would not have been appropriate is an unauthorised holiday in term time. That is why holidays go more or less straight to a fine while other absence usually goes through support first.

How many absences before a fine in the UK?

10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling 10 school weeks. A session is half a day, so that is usually five school days, and they do not have to be consecutive. At that point a school must consider a penalty notice. The first is £160 per parent per child, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. This is England only, and authorised absence, including illness the school has accepted, does not count towards the 10.

The threshold

All state funded schools must consider a penalty notice when a pupil hits the national threshold:

“The threshold is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks.”

Some detail that changes how often people cross it:

• A session is half a day, so 10 sessions is normally five school days.
• The sessions can be any mix of unauthorised absence. The guidance’s own example is four sessions of holiday plus six sessions of arriving after the register closed.
• They do not need to be consecutive.
• The 10 week window can span terms and even school years. Two sessions in the summer term and eight in the autumn term will do it.
• A school week means any week with at least one school session.

Late arrival is the one that catches people out. If your child arrives after the register has closed, that is code U and it counts as unauthorised absence for the whole session even though they were in school. Schools must set the register closing time in their attendance policy, and it cannot be more than 30 minutes after the register opens.

Reaching the threshold does not mean a fine is automatic. The guidance says schools:

“should not have a blanket position of issuing or not issuing penalty notices and should make judgements on each individual case to ensure fairness and consistency across the country.”

The amounts

Per parent, per child:

• First notice: £160 if paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
• Second notice to the same parent for the same child within three years: flat £160 within 28 days. There is no discounted rate.
• Third notice: cannot be issued to the same parent for the same child within three years of the first.

Both parents can each be issued a notice for the same child, and a notice can be issued for each child, so a family with two children and two liable parents can receive four.

The two notice limit, and what happens after it

This is the part that is almost never explained, and it is the part that matters most if attendance is a long running problem rather than one holiday.

“Only 2 penalty notices can be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within a 3 year rolling period.”

Where the threshold is met a third time inside those three years, the guidance says alternative action should be taken instead, and that this:

“will often include considering prosecution, but may include other tools such as one of the other attendance legal interventions.”

So the escalation is not an endless run of eighty pound fines. It is two, and then something more serious. Unpaid notices still count towards the limit, including where prosecution went ahead. Withdrawn notices do not. If a child has moved school or local authority in the previous three years, the council is expected to check whether earlier notices exist.

Reading that as a threat is the wrong way round. The practical point is that if you are anywhere near a second notice, the conversation to have is about support and about why the absence is happening, because the next step after two is a different kind of process.

Who can issue one

Penalty notices must be issued under the Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007, as amended, and can only be issued by a headteacher or someone they authorise, such as a deputy or assistant head, a local authority officer, or the police. They must also follow the Local Code of Conduct that each local authority draws up and maintains.

That local code is a public document and worth finding, because it sets out how your council applies the national framework in practice. Where a notice is issued by someone other than a council officer, that person is expected to check with the council first and must send it copies.

The exclusion fine is a different thing

There is a second, separate type of penalty notice. If a parent allows an excluded or suspended child to be present in a public place during school hours in the first five days, without reasonable justification, a notice can be issued. The school must have told the parent which days that applies to.

That notice is £120, reduced to £60 if paid within 21 days. It sits outside the national framework, so it does not require support to have been tried first and it does not count towards the two notice limit.

Illness, and what does not count

Fines follow unauthorised absence. Absence recorded as illness under code I is authorised and does not count towards the threshold. Nor do sessions recorded as authorised leave, or the codes for circumstances outside the family’s control, such as transport the council was supposed to arrange and did not.

Because of that, the single most useful thing you can do if a fine is looming is to check how sessions were actually coded rather than assume. Our guide to the attendance codes sets out which ones count. If school is asking for a doctor’s note before it will authorise illness, the guidance on medical evidence is narrower than most parents are told.

Home educated children are not in this system at all

Penalty notices are for unauthorised absence from a school a child is registered at. A child who has been lawfully deregistered is not on a school roll, has no attendance register, and cannot be fined for absence. The duty that applies instead is the parent’s duty under section 7 of the Education Act 1996 to provide a suitable full-time education.

That is a genuine difference, not a loophole, and it is worth saying plainly that deregistering to avoid a fine is a bad idea. We have written about why. Taking a child off roll for a cheap week away and putting them back afterwards tends to be noticed, and your preferred school place is not held open for you.

How common is this where you live

In 2024/25, 176,361 children in England missed at least half of school, and the picture varies a great deal between areas. See the absence figures for your council.

How many absences are allowed from school in England?

There is no set number of absences a child is allowed. What matters is whether each absence is authorised by the school, such as illness or leave the school has agreed, or unauthorised. A school must consider a penalty notice once a child reaches 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling 10 school weeks, and a pupil who misses 10% or more of their sessions is counted as persistently absent in the Department for Education statistics, whatever the reason.

Can a child take a leave of absence from school?

Only on the grounds in regulation 11 of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024. For a holiday or any similar request, leave can only be given if a parent the child lives with asked in advance and the head, or someone they authorise, thinks it should be given because of exceptional circumstances (regulation 11(11)). The other grounds are narrow: an interview, study leave for a public exam, an agreed part-time timetable, attending another school or provision the council has arranged, or a school trip. A holiday taken after leave was refused is recorded as code G, which is unauthorised.

Do authorised absences affect attendance?

Yes and no. Authorised absence still counts in your child’s absence rate, and towards being persistently absent at 10% or more of sessions. But it does not count towards a fine: only the unauthorised codes G, N, O and U count towards the 10 session threshold. See every attendance code explained.

Common questions

How many days can a child miss before a fine in England?

The national threshold is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. A session is half a day, so that is usually five school days. The sessions can be any combination of unauthorised absence and do not have to be consecutive.

How much is a school attendance fine in 2026?

The first penalty notice is £160 per parent per child if paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. A second notice for the same parent and child within three years is a flat £160 with no discount.

How many times can you be fined for school attendance?

Only twice for the same parent and the same child in a rolling three year period. A third notice cannot be issued within three years of the first. Where the threshold is met again in that time, the council considers other action, which often includes prosecution.

Can you be fined if your child is off school ill?

Not for absence recorded as illness, which is authorised and does not count towards the threshold. Fines follow unauthorised absence, so it is worth checking how the sessions have been coded on the register.

Does arriving late count towards a school attendance fine?

It can. Arriving after the register has closed is recorded as code U and counts as unauthorised absence for that session. The guidance says a register should not be open for longer than 30 minutes, and the closing time should be in the school’s attendance policy.

Is a school absence fine charged per day?

No. A penalty notice is a single fine per parent, per child, for the absence that triggered it: £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. It does not add up by the day. Two parents and two children can mean four notices, but each one is a flat amount.

Can you appeal a school attendance fine?

No. The Department for Education’s attendance guidance says plainly that there is no right of appeal by parents against a penalty notice (paragraph 203, July 2026 edition). If it is not paid within 28 days, the council must either prosecute for the original offence or withdraw the notice, and a parent can only be prosecuted once the 28 days have passed without full payment. If you believe the notice should not have been issued, put that to the council in writing before the 28 days run out.

Where does the money from school attendance fines go?

To attendance work. The guidance says the penalty notice system is not a money making scheme, councils should not have income targets, and any money collected must be ring-fenced for attendance, first to run the penalty notice system itself (paragraph 204).

Can both parents be fined for the same child?

Yes. A penalty notice can be issued to each parent liable for the offence, and one can be issued for each child. The guidance says they should usually go to the parent or parents who allowed the absence.

Can home educated children be fined for absence?

No. Penalty notices apply to unauthorised absence from a school a child is registered at. A lawfully deregistered child is not on a roll and has no attendance register. The parent’s duty to provide a suitable full-time education under section 7 of the Education Act 1996 applies instead.

Sources

• Department for Education, Working together to improve school attendance, statutory guidance, July 2026 edition, paragraphs 179 to 197.
• The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007, as amended.
• Education Act 1996, section 444, failure to secure regular attendance.
• Education Act 1996, section 7, parental duty to secure education.
• Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England, full academic year 2024/25, published 26 March 2026.