Penalty notices or prosecutions

Unauthorised lateness

Punctuality is a valuable lifelong skill. Late arrival affects not only the pupil who is late but disrupts the whole class.

Schools should:

• actively discourage late arrival 
• be alert to patterns of late arrival;
• seek an explanation from the parent.

Where a pupil arrives after the registers close, with no justifiable reason, a U code should be entered into the register. The DfE’s statutory guidance makes clear when schools are expected to close their registers and make use of the U code (see paragraph 403).

The policy must be applied consistently across the whole school and not restricted to particular pupils or year groups.

The U code amounts to an unauthorised absence for the whole session. A penalty notice may be issued where there have been at least ten sessions of unauthorised absence during a rolling 10 school week period.