Attendance fines checker
Check whether a pupil’s unauthorised absence has reached the point where a penalty notice must be considered, and look up any attendance code.
- The national frameworkFrom “Working together to improve school attendance” (July 2026) and the penalty notice regulations, checked 20 October 2026.
- Nothing you enter leaves your browserThe checker runs on this page. Nothing is sent or stored.
Check the penalty notice threshold
Enter the pupil’s sessions of unauthorised absence (codes G, N, O and U) from your MIS, by date or as a count. The example figures are there to show how it works.
Guidance on the national framework, not legal advice. Whether to issue a penalty notice is a decision for the school or local authority, under the local authority’s code of conduct.
The rules
The national framework for penalty notices for school absence in England, in force since 19 August 2024 and unchanged in the July 2026 guidance.
- The national threshold
10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. A school week is any week, starting on a Monday, with at least one school session, so holiday weeks are skipped. The sessions can be together or spread out, any mix of unauthorised codes, and across terms or school years.
A session is half a day, so 10 sessions is 5 days.
- Considered, not automatic
When a pupil reaches the threshold, the school (or local authority) must consider whether a penalty notice is appropriate. It isn’t automatic, and schools shouldn’t have a blanket policy of always or never issuing one. They ask:
- Is support appropriate? If so, support continues, and a Notice to Improve (an improvement period of 3 to 6 weeks) usually comes before any penalty notice. Where support isn’t appropriate, as with most term-time holidays, a notice can follow.
- Is a penalty notice the best way to improve attendance for this family, or would support or another legal step work better?
- Is it appropriate under the Equality Act 2010, for example where a pupil has a disability?
A local authority can issue a notice before the threshold in some cases, such as repeated holidays kept just below it, if its code of conduct says so.
- How much
The first notice to a parent for a child is £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days. A second notice to the same parent for the same child within 3 years is £160. Payment goes to the local authority, whoever issued it.
- The limit: 2 in 3 years
No more than 2 penalty notices can go to the same parent for the same child in a rolling 3 years. If the threshold is met a third time in that period, the local authority takes other action, which will often mean considering prosecution. Unpaid notices count towards the limit; withdrawn ones don’t.
- If it isn’t paid
After 28 days the local authority must either prosecute for the original offence or withdraw the notice. There is no right of appeal against a penalty notice.
- Who can issue one
A headteacher, or a deputy or assistant head they authorise, a local authority officer, or the police. Independent schools can’t. Anyone other than the local authority checks with it first and sends it a copy. A notice can go to each parent who is liable, usually only those who allowed the absence.
The local code of conduct
Every local authority must draw up a code of conduct for penalty notices, after consulting schools and the police, and is expected to publish it on its website. Schools, the police and local authority officers must all follow it. It sets out:
- the national threshold, the 2 notice limit and what happens after a third offence
- how schools issue a notice, or refer to the local authority to issue one, without duplicates
- how the local authority decides whether enough support has been given (its decision is final)
- its Notice to Improve process and improvement period
- how it checks with other local authorities when a pupil has moved in the last 3 years
- how outcomes are reported back to the school.
Search for your local authority’s name and “penalty notice code of conduct” to find yours. Its local process comes first.
A separate notice, outside this framework, can be issued if a parent lets an excluded pupil be in a public place during school hours in the first 5 days of an exclusion: £120, or £60 if paid within 21 days.
Sources, checked 20 October 2026:
- Working together to improve school attendance (DfE statutory guidance, July 2026, page updated 9 July 2026), paragraphs 179 to 205 (National Framework for penalty notices).
- The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/210, in force 19 August 2024): the amounts (regulation 4), the duty to consider at 10 sessions in 10 school weeks (regulation 9A) and the limit of 2 in 3 years (regulation 12A).
- The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/1867), which the 2024 regulations amend, including the code of conduct (regulations 14 to 16).
Attendance and absence codes
All 34 national codes, what each means, whether it counts as a possible session, and whether it’s authorised absence.
Possible sessions are the ones attendance and absence percentages are worked out from. Work out a pupil’s percentage with the attendance calculator.
| Code | Meaning | Counted as | Possible session? | Authorised? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
/ |
Present in the morning sessionAttending the school | Present | Yes | Not absent |
\ |
Present in the afternoon sessionAttending the school | Present | Yes | Not absent |
L |
Late, arrived before the register closedAttending the schoolThe register stays open for the same time every session, and no more than 30 minutes. | Present | Yes | Not absent |
K |
Attending education provision arranged by the local authorityAttending a place other than the schoolProvision arranged by the school, not the local authority, is code B or P. | Attending an approved educational activity | Yes | Not absent |
V |
Attending an educational visit or tripAttending a place other than the school | Attending an approved educational activity | Yes | Not absent |
P |
Taking part in an approved sporting activityAttending a place other than the school | Attending an approved educational activity | Yes | Not absent |
W |
Attending work experienceAttending a place other than the school | Attending an approved educational activity | Yes | Not absent |
B |
Attending any other approved educational activityAttending a place other than the school | Attending an approved educational activity | Yes | Not absent |
C1 |
Leave of absence for a regulated performance or regulated employment abroadLeave of absence | Authorised absence | Yes | Yes |
M |
Leave of absence for a medical or dental appointmentLeave of absence | Authorised absence | Yes | Yes |
J1 |
Leave of absence for an interview for a job or another school or collegeLeave of absence | Authorised absence | Yes | Yes |
S |
Leave of absence to study for a public examLeave of absence | Authorised absence | Yes | Yes |
X |
Not of compulsory school age, and not required to attend this sessionLeave of absence | Not a possible session | No | Not counted |
C2 |
Leave of absence for a compulsory school age pupil on a temporary part-time timetableLeave of absenceNot for dual registration, part-time alternative provision or flexi-schooling, where the pupil still gets a full-time education. | Authorised absence | Yes | Yes |
D |
Dual registered: scheduled to attend the other school they are registered atLeave of absenceOnly for a session when the pupil is due at the other school. The school they are due at records their attendance or absence. | Not a possible session | No | Not counted |
C |
Leave of absence for exceptional circumstancesLeave of absenceEach request is judged on its own facts; no blanket policies that grant leave automatically. Also used for agreed flexi-schooling sessions. | Authorised absence | Yes | Yes |
T |
Parent travelling for work, and the pupil (a mobile child) is travelling with themOther authorised absenceOnly where the child has no fixed abode, as the guidance defines it. | Authorised absence | Yes | Yes |
R |
Religious observance, on a day set apart by the parent’s religious bodyOther authorised absence | Authorised absence | Yes | Yes |
I |
Illness (not a medical or dental appointment)Other authorised absenceMedical evidence shouldn’t be asked for routinely, only where there is genuine and reasonable doubt or to support repeated illness. | Authorised absence | Yes | Yes |
E |
Suspended or permanently excluded, with no alternative provisionOther authorised absence | Authorised absence | Yes | Yes |
Q |
Unable to attend because the local authority hasn’t made access (travel) arrangementsUnable to attend: unavoidable causeOnly where the local authority has a legal duty to arrange home to school travel and hasn’t, or the other cases set out in law. | Not a possible session | No | Not counted |
Y1 |
Unable to attend because the transport normally provided isn’t availableUnable to attend: unavoidable causeThe school must be beyond walking distance: 2 miles under 8, 3 miles at 8 or over. | Not a possible session | No | Not counted |
Y2 |
Unable to attend because of widespread travel disruptionUnable to attend: unavoidable cause | Not a possible session | No | Not counted |
Y3 |
Unable to attend because part of the school premises is closedUnable to attend: unavoidable cause | Not a possible session | No | Not counted |
Y4 |
Unable to attend because the whole school site is unexpectedly closedUnable to attend: unavoidable causeNot for planned closures such as weekends or holidays. | Not a possible session | No | Not counted |
Y5 |
Unable to attend because the pupil is in criminal justice detentionUnable to attend: unavoidable cause | Not a possible session | No | Not counted |
Y6 |
Unable to attend under public health guidance or lawUnable to attend: unavoidable causeOnly where the pupil is well enough to attend; otherwise code I. | Not a possible session | No | Not counted |
Y7 |
Unable to attend because of any other unavoidable causeUnable to attend: unavoidable causeSomething like an emergency that affects the pupil, not the parent. Record what the cause was. | Not a possible session | No | Not counted |
G |
Holiday not granted by the schoolUnauthorised absenceCounts towards the penalty notice threshold. | Unauthorised absence | Yes | No |
N |
Reason for absence not yet establishedUnauthorised absenceMust be replaced with the right code within 5 school days, or with code O. | Unauthorised absence | Yes | No |
O |
Absent in other or unknown circumstancesUnauthorised absenceCounts towards the penalty notice threshold. | Unauthorised absence | Yes | No |
U |
Arrived after the register closedUnauthorised absenceCounts towards the penalty notice threshold. | Unauthorised absence | Yes | No |
Z |
Prospective pupil, not yet on the admission registerAdministrative | Not collected for statistics | No | Not counted |
# |
Planned whole school closure, such as holidays, weekends or polling dayAdministrative | Not collected for statistics | No | Not counted |
What changed in July 2026
The July 2026 edition of the guidance made clarifications, not new codes. The codes and the penalty notice rules are the same as from 19 August 2024. For codes, it:
- says the register must be taken at the same time for all pupils, including those on part-time timetables
- clarifies when to use codes Q, D, Y6 and U, and how to record dual registration, flexi-schooling (code C), no fixed abode (code T) and access arrangements
- says schools shouldn’t routinely ask for medical evidence for illness (code I), and shouldn’t have blanket policies that grant leave of absence automatically (code C).
Sources, checked 20 October 2026:
- The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, regulation 10 and Tables 1 to 3 (the codes in law).
- Working together to improve school attendance (July 2026), paragraph 5 (what has changed) and chapter 8, paragraphs 288 to 422 (meanings and how each code is counted). Codes Z and # are administrative codes from the guidance.
Attendance fines questions
More in our guide to school attendance fines.
How many days off school before a fine?
There is no automatic fine. In England, when a pupil has 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence within 10 school weeks, the school or local authority must consider whether a penalty notice is appropriate. They look at whether support would help, whether a notice is the best option for the family, and the Equality Act 2010. Authorised absence, such as illness the school has accepted, doesn’t count.
How much is a school attendance fine?
The first penalty notice to a parent for a child is £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days. A second notice to the same parent for the same child within 3 years is £160, with no lower rate. A third can’t be issued within 3 years of the first; the local authority considers other action instead, which may include prosecution.
Can both parents get a penalty notice?
Yes. A notice can be issued to each parent who is liable. The DfE guidance says notices should usually go only to the parent or parents who allowed the absence, whichever parent asked for the leave.
Can you appeal a school attendance fine?
No. There is no right of appeal against a penalty notice. If it isn’t paid within 28 days, the local authority must either prosecute for the original offence or withdraw the notice.
Does arriving late count towards the threshold?
Arriving after the register closes (code U) is unauthorised absence, so it counts. Arriving late before the register closes (code L) counts as present, so it doesn’t. The 10 sessions can be any mix of unauthorised codes: G, N, O and U.
See absence early, before it reaches a threshold
In Pupil Protect Safeguard, attendance comes from your MIS. A pupil is flagged to the DSL team at persistent absence (90% or below) or severe absence (50% or below), after a sudden drop, or at a risk of missing education (10 school days in a row of unexplained absence).