penalty notice from former school, no issue date - invalid?

[Zosie7]

Hi,
my daughter's previous school has just issued me with a penalty notice due to lateness in the first part of this year. She left the school a month ago and the penalty notice does not have an issue date although it does say I have to pay within 3 weeks or I have to pay 2,500 or go to prison for 3 months! I'd like to know if the lack of an issue date makes the notice invalid and if my daughter is no longer registered at the school am I still obliged to pay it...can anyone offer any advice please?

Thanx

Eh? What country are you in?

UK, South London

Is this a state school? If so, they cannot issue you with a penalty notice for lateness. If it's private, I would still think it unlikely.
I think this sounds like a scam. How 'official' does the letter look?

look very carefully at the heading, the spelling and grammar and so on.
it could well be some kind of scam.
Is there a number for you to ring?

If regularly late enough to miss registration, the child would be recorded an unauthorised absentee, and therefore a penalty notice could be issued. I don't know about the lack of a date, but I wouldn't have thought the fact the your child no longer attended that school would be reason not to pay. Your child should have been at school and wasn't....

Now you mention it the letter isn't in a similar format to other letters I have received from the council. The school is an academy. There's a number which I have tried to contact them on repeatedly but only got through once; a man answered but just said his first name and didn't mention anything about the council! I have called the school regarding it and they even said they don't know if I am obliged to pay if my daughter is no longer registered there. They did however state that they understand why I would be charged as they say my daughter was late 18 times! I am fairly sure this is incorrect. I am waiting for them to call me back.

Your child should have been at school and wasn't
seeline that is not the point is it?
in question here is whether this is genuine - as you say, lateness would be marked as unauthroised absence, not lateness per se. Anyone involved in school knows this.

I think I would go over their heads to the LEA - this sounds mad!

Have you tried googling the phone number?

sounds well dodgy zosie....maybe ring again and ask the person who answers to identify self with job title etc?
does the letter look very different?

I would doubt they could charge you without giving exact details of each of the 'lateness' offences. It sounds incredibly dubious to me.

Nigellas I was simply pointing out that being late could be an unauthorised absence, for which parents could be prosecuted. This was in response to clam stating you couldn't have a penalty notice for lateness.

Rather than ringing the number again, it would probably be best to phone your LEA and speak to the EWO. I'm sure they'd be able to clear things up and would be especially interested if it's a scam.

oh right i see sorry to be snippy -

Yes, I wouldn't ring the number again - was it an 0845 one? sounds like a total scam.

Don't rely on the number on the letter. Find the correct number for the LA and ring them.

If the notice has no date - no date when it was sent, no issue date then how can the time limit for payment be enforced? 60 to be paid within 3 weeks; 3 weeks from when??
My child was at school everyday she just happened to be late on a few occasions - 5-10 mins late at the most, at the time we had just moved, we had found a place at a local school but as we were in court with her father (who lives in Italy & pays no maintenance) he refused to allow us to move her as he knew it would make us look bad if we did without his permission. So my daughter and I had to travel over an hour daily by bus then walk a mile to her previous school. At the time I was 3 months pregnant and feeling as rough as old boots. The school also had a bizarre policy of making children wait at reception until after registration even if they were only a couple of minutes late...

it does smell whiffy zosie....google who your EWO is and contact them

erm... I would assign the letter to the bin and not give it another thought.

sounds like a scam, contact the council and ask them - they need to know about it.

Thanks for all your comments. I'd go there and sort it if I wasn't about to give birth at any given time! Thankfully my daughter is at a much nicer school now which we are already impressed by, so it's not all bad just makes you feel like a bad parent when you receive something like this :(

I have checked the number and it is valid. I'm currently on hold with Lambeth council to try to speak to someone...