School attendance and support

Who are we?

Education Welfare Officers (EWO) within Southampton City Council, discharge the local authority duties of enforcing school attendance. To do this, we work in partnership with schools, academies, pupils, parents/carers to reduce barriers to school attendance. Our work is essential to ensure that pupils can make the best possible use of the educational opportunities which are available to them and maximise their future potential. We are a statutory service, working in line with the 'working together to improve school attendance' guidance, and we work within several statutory frameworks and guidance:

• The Education Act 1996
• The Children Act 1989
• The Crime and Disorder Act 1998
• The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003

All schools have a named allocated EWO who acts as a point of contact for consultation on process and for advice. Schools can contact the allocated EWO for general queries and advice. Parents/carers can contact the EWO for their school via education.welfare.service@southampton.gov.uk.

A duty officer is available daily during term time to provide advice and guidance around reducing barriers to school attendance and can respond to any queries you may have. If you are referred to the Education Welfare Service, an EWO will be in contact with you.

The EWO will work together with parents/carers and pupils around the barriers to school attendance, assess the support required to help reduce these barriers so children and young people can return to school on a regular basis. Education Welfare Officers work in partnership with children, young people, parents and carers to find out about the reasons for your child's absence.

The EWO will talk about the legislative framework and your responsibilities for securing regular school attendance and discuss any intervention necessary or onward referrals with you and your child.

EWOs may undertake proceedings on behalf of the Local Authority, in respect of parents/carers who do not ensure their children's regular attendance at school or fail to enrol them at school or otherwise. The EWOs will make relevant investigations and action plans in collaboration with you and your children, school, and other relevant parties, concerning absence from school or alternative educational provision.

Schools are responsible for engaging with and informing parents/carers of the potential involvement of the Education Welfare Service. Evidence is provided to the EWO with the referral, and the expectation is that the school have notified the parent/carer of the referral prior to submission. However, schools who do purchase an EWO’s time for early intervention work prior to a referral being made you may be contacted by the EWO to address concerns before the need for statutory intervention. The EWO will explain this when they make contact.

EWO’s undertake termly Targeting Support Meetings with their schools, looking and discussing all children and young people who have attendance 90% and below, exploring the reasons for any barriers to school attendance.

Penalty notices are fines of £60 or £120 imposed on parents. They are an alternative to the prosecution of parents for failing to ensure that their child of compulsory school age regularly attends the school where they are registered or at a place where alternative provision is provided. Penalty notices can be requested by the school for unauthorised absence and unauthorised leave of absence. If the criteria is met under the Penalty Notice Code of Conduct then the local authority will issue per parent, per child.

Read more about this at Fines for parents for taking children out of school: What you need to know.

If a child is failing to regularly attend school, Southampton Education Welfare Service has a duty to investigate this. An initial investigation meeting will take place, where you will be cautioned under Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984, and a plan will be agreed and implemented to support the family into improving attendance. Regular investigation review meetings will then take place until there is a significant and sustained improvement.

The Fast Track model promotes early intervention by both schools, the local authority and parents in cases of persistent and severe absence. It aims to ensure appropriate, and time limited intervention is in place to tackle the underlying causes of poor or non-attendance as soon as it becomes apparent. It is a mechanism for ensuring parents focus their attention on their responsibility for ensuring their children attend school both regularly and punctually by engaging with them and specifying, by way of an attendance contract, what improvements need to be made.

If a child of compulsory school age fails to attend regularly at a school at which they are registered, or at a place where alternative provision is provided for them, the parents may be guilty of an offence and can be prosecuted by the local authority. Only local authorities can prosecute parents and they must fund all associated costs.

Local authorities should consider the Attorney General’s Guidelines for Crown Prosecutors in all prosecution cases.

Local authorities must conduct all investigations in accordance with the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984.

Local authorities have the power to prosecute parents who fail to comply with a school attendance order (section 443 of the Education Act 1996) or fail to ensure their child’s regular attendance at a school (section 444 of the Education Act 1996). Section 444 has two separate but linked offences: Section 444(1): where a parent fails to secure the child’s regular attendance; and section 444(1A) where a parent knows that the child is failing to attend school regularly, and fails to ensure the child does so.

Section 444ZA7 applies the offence to where parents fail to secure the regular attendance of their child at a place where the local authority or governing body has arranged alternative provision.

An ESO is an order granted in the Family Proceedings Court requiring the parent and their child to follow directions made in the order to improve school attendance. This requires the parent/carer and their child to work with their EWO for a specific amount of time to ensure there is an improvement. Non-compliance of the order may lead to prosecution.

A Local Authority can notify a parent/carer of a SAO if they are not satisfied that a child is receiving an education. The SAO requires a parent/carer to enrol their child into a named education setting. Parents/carers will be notified and provided with 15 days to provide evidence that the child is registered at the setting named in the order, or they are receiving appropriate elective home education. These orders are issued by the Inclusion Services team.