Nottinghamshire Schools Portal

Questions frequently asked by schools to the Local Authority

Can I be issued with a Penalty Notice if I am not a child’s biological parent or I don’t have parental responsibility for a child?

Yes. Under section 576 of the Education Act 1996 (EA 1996), a "parent" in relation to a child or young person is defined as either:

The biological parents of a child, whether they are married or not and/or any person, who has regular care of a child or young person even if they are not the biological parent or don’t legally hold parental responsibility for the child or children in question.

Penalty notices can be issued to a child/young person’s parents, step parents and/or any adult residing in the family home that has day to day care of the child/young person.

Penalty notices are issued to each parent/carer for each child who had an unauthorised absence from school. This means that each responsible “parent” may receive a penalty notice for each child included in the request.

Who issues the Penalty Notice?

Penalty Notices can be issued by the Local Authority, Headteachers and the Police.

In Nottinghamshire Penalty Notices are primarily issued by the Local Authority at the request of a named referrer. In most cases the referrer is the School/Academy where the child/young person is on roll.

When a school becomes aware that a child has met the unauthorised absence threshold of 5 days or 10 sessions over a 10-school week rolling period they must consider whether a penalty notice fine should be issued.

How school requests a Penalty Notice?

As of 29 November 2024, we are no longer accepting the hard copy Penalty Notice Request forms. We have now moved to an Online Referral process to submit a penalty notice request via the SAM (School Access Module) portal. 
 
There are 3 separate forms: 
1.    Leave of Absence (LOA)
2.    Exclusion – seen in a public place.
3.    Unauthorised Absence (UA) – to include general attendance, lateness and mix of unauthorised codes.
 
Schools in Nottinghamshire will have access to the SAM (School Access Module) portal which is already used for Admissions and FSM. However, you will need to request access to the Penalty Notice Online Requests section. 

If you don’t have individual access for your role and need an additional login, then you will need to request this by emailing infosys.dev@nottscc.gov.uk
 
Subject: SAM account log in request
Good morning
We require log ins for the new online penalty notice forms, so please can I request a login to SAM for myself (and my colleague)?
Access is required for – provide names and email addresses
 
Please find attached the guidance to help you find and complete the forms. 

Here are 5 key things to remember – 

• Your paperwork must be attached as one bundle. Separate documents and zip folders will not be accepted.
• When writing to parent/carer’s please ensure you are using their title and initial/first name on your school letters.
• The full postal address needs to be on each letter and your letters must be signed and dated copies.
• Ensure you have sent separate letters to each parent even if they live at the same address. You can put all siblings on one letter to each parent.
• The student’s details should be on the letters – dob and their legal names.
• You can only put one student on each online referral therefore if there are siblings you will need to do a separate referral for each student.

Who decides how much time a pupil can have off before a Penalty Notice can be issued?

There is a Local Code of Conduct, agreed between schools and the Local Authority which outlines how Penalty Notices work in Nottinghamshire. This includes the threshold (or the level of unauthorised absence) for which fines can be issued.

The national framework for legal intervention sets the threshold at unauthorised absences of 5 days or 10 sessions over a ten-school week period.

The Nottinghamshire Code of Conduct is available on the County Council public website - School Attendance, Absence and Truancy

The Penalty Notice I was sent lists a 10 school-week period, but my child was not absent for that long? Why does the Penalty Notice mention 10 school weeks?

The ten-week period is stated on page one of the penalty notice document. This does not mean that your child was absent for the full ten weeks quoted on the notice but that the child/young person was absent for 5 days or 10 sessions without authorisation during the period of time cited on the notice.

This means that their unauthorised absence during that period has met the threshold for a penalty notice to be issued.

If the fine is not paid within the timescales listed in the Notice, the local authority may decide to prosecute at the Magistrates court for the original offence and will use the ten school weeks listed on the Penalty Notice as the relevant period of evidence for court.

I disagree with the absence being marked as unauthorised. Who can I discuss this with?

The statutory guidance clearly states that it is solely the decision of the Headteacher at your child’s school/academy as to whether the absence is authorised and for how long.

Where an absence is unauthorised by a school, the Headteacher then makes the request to the Local Authority to issue parents/carers with a penalty notice fine. They make this request because they have decided that based on the information provided to them by a pupil’s parents / carers, they do not believe the reason for the absence is exceptional or the absence exceeded the amount of time the Headteacher has permitted the pupil to be absent from school.

The Local Authority is unable to adjudicate on decisions made by individual Headteachers or change the authorisation of any absences from school. This would undermine the authority of the Headteacher of your child’s school and would be contrary to the statutory guidance and regulations.

The Pupil Registration (England) Regulations only allow the Local Authority to withdraw fines in very specific circumstances. For example, if the register was found to have been marked incorrectly or a fine was issued to the wrong person.

The pupil registration regulations prevent Headteachers from agreeing a leave of absence in term time unless they determine that the reason for the absence is exceptional.

You should refer to your child’s school’s Attendance Policy for more information about the kinds of circumstances your school might decide that the reason for an absence is exceptional.

Penalty Notices are issued for unauthorised absences only.

If you believe that the absence within the time-period should be authorised because you believe the reason for the absence was exceptional you should contact the School/Academy directly and discuss the matter with the headteacher. Fines can not be appealed through the local authority.

My child’s attendance is normally very good. I think it is unfair that I have been issued with a fine because I took them out of school to go on a family holiday.

New Pupil Registration (England) Regulations were introduced in 2024.

Headteachers cannot agree a leave of absence in term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Therefore, if you take your child out of school without authorisation from the Headteacher for a leave of absence (holiday) in term time you can be liable for a fine even if your child’s attendance is not otherwise causing concern for the school.

Can I make a part-payment or can I have an extension to the payment deadline?

Penalty notices are issued at £160 (per child, per parent) and must be paid within the statutory 28-day deadline.

Parents can only receive a maximum of two fines for an individual child’s unauthorised absence over a three-year rolling period. A third offence would result in the matter being referred directly to the Magistrates court.

Penalty notices fines for a first offence are reduced to £80 if paid in full, within 21 days of issue.

Penalty notices for a second offence can only be paid at the full fine rate of £160 per parent per child.

Payment deadline dates are stated on page two of the penalty notice document. The payment deadlines are statutory (laid down in legislation) and cannot be altered once a fine has been issued. 

Part payments or instalments are also not accepted. Payments must be made in full by the deadline stated on the penalty notice documents otherwise parents may be liable for prosecution at court.

Can I appeal against the Penalty Notice?

There is no appeal process to the local authority once a penalty notice has been issued.

If you disagree with the reason(s) you have been issued with a penalty notice fine you should contact the school or academy directly to discuss the matter with the Head Teacher.   

The Penalty Notice Process will continue unless a request is made to the local authority by the named referrer to consider withdrawing your penalty notice.

Please be aware that once issued, penalty notice fines can only be withdrawn under very specific criteria laid out in the regulations.

Can I request the withdrawal of penalty notice?

No. As the person receiving the Penalty Notice you cannot request a withdrawal of the fine.

Your child’s school could request that the local authority withdraw a fine but there are specific criteria which must be met first.

The only circumstances in which a Penalty Notice will be withdrawn include cases in which:

• it ought not to have been issued; or
• it ought not to have been issued to the person named as the recipient;
• it appears to the authority that the notice contains material errors,
• it interferes with existing intervention strategies or legal proceedings

More information

You can view more information on School Attendance, Absence and Truancy

Contact information or to pay a Penalty Notice Fine

If you need to pay a Penalty Notice Fine please phone 01158043500

If you have received a Penalty Notice Fine and have a question about it you can email pnenquiries@nottscc.gov.uk or phone 01158043500