Nottinghamshire Schools Portal

Improving school attendance contracts

An attendance contract [Word] is a formal written agreement between a parent and either the school and/or local authority to address irregular attendance at school or alternative provision.

An attendance contract is not legally binding but allows a more formal route to secure engagement with support where a voluntary early help plan has not worked or is not deemed appropriate.

An attendance contract is intended to provide support and offer an alternative to prosecution.

Parents cannot be compelled to an improving attendance contract, and they cannot be agreed in a parent’s absence.

There is no obligation on the school or local authority to offer an attendance contract, and it may not be appropriate in every instance, but an attendance contract should always be explored before moving forward to an education supervision order or prosecution.

In order to put in place an improving a school attendance contract, a meeting should be arranged with the parent(s)/Carer(s) and the pupil wherever possible. The meeting should:

• explain the purpose of an attendance contract and why using one would be beneficial in the family’s circumstances,
• Provide parent(s)/carer(s) the opportunity to outline their views on the pupil’s attendance at school, any underlying issues and what type of support they think would be helpful to secure the pupil’s regular attendance.

Where a parent fails to attend the meeting without good reason or notification, further attempts should be made to contact them and arrange another meeting but all attempts at support should be recorded.

Attendance contracts should contain:

• Details of the requirements the parent(s) is expected to comply with.
• A statement from the school and/or local authority agreeing to provide support to the parent(s) to meet the requirements and setting out details of the support.
• A statement by the parent that they agree to comply with the requirements for the period of time specified by the contract.

The requirements specified, and the support provided, will depend on the individual case, and should be tailored to the needs of the individual parent and family.

There is not a prescribed list of requirements for parents/carers, but requirements may include:

• Measures to ensure the pupil attends school or alternative provision punctually and regularly,
• Meetings with the school and/or local authority that parents/carers must attend,
• Clear expectations that parents will access support that is offered, either from the school directly or from other external agencies.

The support provided to help the parent satisfy those requirements may include:

• Provision of a lead practitioner to support the family,
• Signposting or referrals to wider local authority or health services that might support the family (e.g. housing needs, drug and alcohol support)
• Signposting or referrals to voluntary and community sector programmes or support (e.g. foodbanks or community support groups)
• Formal interventions such as peer mentoring or literacy classes
• Formal parenting programmes (e.g. a course with a specified number of sessions)
• Temporary reasonable adjustments within school for the pupil concerned.

Attendance contracts do not have a minimum or maximum review period. Each individual attendance contract should set out the duration it will be in place, and most are for between 3 and 12 months but can be longer if needed.

Once the requirements and support elements of the attendance contract have been agreed, the school and/or local authority and the parent should write up the contract together and sign it.

The attendance contract should be written in language that the parent can easily understand (including a translation where necessary). All parties, including other partners working with the family, should be given a copy.

Where a parent does not comply with the requirements set out in the attendance contract, the lead practitioner should contact the parent and seek an explanation and decide whether it is reasonable, and the attendance contract remains useful.

If the explanation shows that the attendance contract is proving difficult to comply with through no fault of the parent, then a meeting should be arranged with the parent to review and amend it.

Where no explanation is given, or the lead practitioner is not satisfied with the explanation, they should serve the parent with a warning to explain that the attendance contract is not working and may be terminated, and another course of action pursued, if the parent does not engage. This may be in the form of a letter, and record of it should be kept.

If there are further instances of non-compliance, the school should arrange a meeting with the parent to review the attendance contract and discuss how it can be made to work. Following this meeting, the school and/or local authority should decide whether the noncompliance is undermining the contract to the extent that it is no longer useful in which case an alternative course of action (such as a different legal intervention) would need to be decided upon. The decision and reasons should be recorded.

There is no criminal sanction for a parent’s failure to comply with, or refusal to sign, an attendance contract.

If the pupil’s irregular attendance continues or escalates to the point where prosecution is deemed appropriate, however, any failure or refusal may be presented as evidence in the case. It is therefore important that any non-compliance with the contract is recorded so that it can be presented in court if necessary.