Background notes

Approximately 50% of all truancy is with the knowledge and collusion of parents. By law, parents whose children are of compulsory school age (5–16 years) are responsible for ensuring that their children attend school regularly. If they do not do so, they may be prosecuted for the offence of irregular attendance under s444 of the Education Act 1996.

In March 2004 Local Education Authorities were asked to carry out truancy sweeps over a four-week period. 128 of the 150 LEAs took part in the national sweep exercise.

• Over 1000 sweeps were carried out, which stopped an estimated 11,365 children, of whom 5000 did not have a valid reason for not being at school.
• Of that 5000 75% were secondary school children and 25% were from primary schools.
• Approximately 34% of children with no valid reason (1,715) were accompanied by an adult.
• 60% of truants were male compared to 40% who were female.

Truancy sweeps are now a regular feature in Local Education Authorities. They are carried out by partnerships of uniformed police officers and education welfare officers. The patrols aim to tackle non-attendance and involve stopping any young person believed to be of school age, whether accompanied by an adult or not, to establish whether or not the young person is legitimately out of school. Truancy sweeps can identify children with attendance problems and parents who are not taking their child's attendance seriously. LEAs and schools can then give them appropriate support.

The decision to prosecute a parent under this legislation rests with the Local Education Authority (LEA) whose officers are best placed to assess the family's circumstances and decide upon the most appropriate course of action. LEAs must judge whether and when to prosecute on a case by case basis. Sometimes prosecution will be the last resort; in other cases it may be right to begin prosecution at a much earlier stage to prevent attendance problems getting worse.

Since March 2001 there has been an aggravated offence for which magistrates can award a fine of up to £2,500 or a prison term of up to three months. This higher penalty only applies to those parents who know their child is not attending school and have taken no steps to secure their attendance.

Magistrates can also impose a parenting order if this will help to prevent further pupil absence. Parenting orders are a means of underlining parents' responsibility for their children's behaviour and providing parents with structured help and support to cope with adverse behaviour in the community.

Parents are not always willing to cooperate with the school or LEA voluntarily to improve their children's attendance. So, as an alternative to prosecution, LEAs and schools can also issue penalty notices of £50 rising to £100 if unpaid after 28 days to parents who condone their children's truancy. One of the first LEAs to operate penalty notices warned approximately 800 parents that they would receive a notice unless they improved their child's attendance. It found that almost all parents did so and only issued 24 notices.