Management Information Sheet

The Norfolk County Council Attendance Team is writing to draw your attention to Norfolk County Council's revised code of conduct for the provision of administering Penalty Notices for school absence. The purpose of this code of conduct is to ensure that the associated powers are applied consistently and fairly across the Local Authority area and that suitable arrangements are in place for the administration of Penalty Notices.

A new National Framework for Penalty Notices for school absence is being introduced through changes to secondary legislation. The regulations will come into effect from the 19 August 2024. The National Framework aims to:

• Make Penalty Notices more effective by ensuring they are only used in cases where they are the most appropriate tool to change parental behaviour and improve attendance.
• Prioritise the support first approach by expecting support to be used in cases where it is appropriate and using Penalty Notices in cases where support is not appropriate (e.g. a term time holiday) or has not worked or has not been engaged with.
• Improve consistency in the use of Penalty Notices across England by introducing a new national threshold at which they are considered.
• Improve the deterrent effect of a Penalty Notice by increasing the amount and introducing a new national limit of 2 Penalty Notices within a 3-year period to break cycles of repeat offending.

It is a legal requirement that all Local Authority's must consult with schools and the police in their area when drawing up their local code of conduct. We invite you to share your feedback during this period by emailing katie.griffiths@norfolk.gov.uk

The Attendance Team will be hosting a webcast on Monday 13 May 2024 at 11am to talk through the changes to the Code of Conduct. You can book onto this event here.

The consultation period on the revised Code of Conduct will run from 30 April 2024 to 17 May 2024. Please be advised that we have no discretion on whether to implement the new National Framework, only our local arrangements. We look forward to hearing from you. You can find the Draft NCC Code of Conduct for issuing Fixed Penalties regarding School Attendance on the Attendance news, events and contact information page hosted on the NCC Schools & Learning Provider website.

Penalty Notice Fines for School Attendance are changing! Resource for schools

Following on from our webcast in April regarding the changes to the Working together to improve school attendance guidance and the introduction of the new National Framework we have created as requested an asset for all schools to use to support parents understanding of the changes that will come into effect from 19 August 2024. The new asset entitled 'Penalty Notice Fines for School Attendance are changing!' can be found on the Attendance news, events and contact information page hosted on the NCC Schools & Learning Providers website.