Attendance penalty

[Be2]

Hi there, has any parent been given the unauthorised school attendance penalty notice? If yes, how did you go about contesting it? Thanks in advance

Was the penalty applied incorrectly? You need to check your local authority attendance policy and see what the local rules are. There will also be guidance on how to appeal if you believe they have got it wrong. Different councils have different procedures, so the process will depend on where you are.

Was it issued for holiday absence or repeated absence for other reasons? What are your grounds for contesting it?

Depending on why this was issued depends on the advice.

After the shit show that education has been over the last two years, I don’t know how they dare to be honest! And that would form the basis of any argument I had about it.

It was due to my child being sick on different days/months. As they do request a doctor's note but these days, if the illness can be managed at home, you won't get seen and doctors at my GP now charge a fee to get a note.

Unauthorised absences due to sickness and not being able to get a doctor's note to back it.

I think it has to be up to 15 unauthorised absences. From the letter sent, it was from September 2021 to March 2022. When I spoke to the attendance officer, she advised me to speak to the school headteacher because only she can withdraw the penalty charge. I just need to understand how can a child being sick be marked down as “unauthorised”.

In my area you need a sick note for anything over 48 hours . But it's self certified for the first seven days away?! So then my school says they want a C letter from the Gp..... that's £25 a go and takes 28 working days.

15 days off in just over half a school year is a lot. Do they have an underlying medical condition?

I am guessing there is a lot more to this

It's never anything so serious....migraines, stomach upset, temperature etc but we've carried out a blood test and nothing came back negative.