Attendance Compliance

​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Attendance Compliance Team is committed to the principle that all children have the right to a suitable education.

Regular school attendance is vital to enable children and young people to achieve their ambitions through:

• education
• training
• life-long learning

Our core function is to protect children's education. We do this by fulfilling the local authority's statutory functions concerning school absence.

If school-based interventions do not improve a child's attendance, we provide a structured response. This is free of charge to schools and academies.

Legal intervention, in the form of penalty notice or prosecution, would take place as appropriate. For further information about penalty notices, view the current Essex Code of Conduct for issuing Penalty Notices.​

You should reference the code in your attendance policy. This is so that all parents are fully informed.

Statutory guidance for attendance compliance

• DfE Guidance on Absence and Attendance codes (including a link to the Pupil Registration Regulations)
• Children Missing Education - Statutory guidance for LAs
• Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions - DfE statutory guidance​
• Attendance Policy Model