Pay a penalty notice for school attendance

The National Framework introduced in August 2024 means only 2 penalty notices can be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within a 3 year rolling period, and any second notice within that period is charged at a higher rate:

the first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular pupil will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days - this will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days
a second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days
a third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of issue of the first - alternative action, such as prosecution in Magistrates court, will be considered instead

Failure to pay the penalty notice could result in the local authority starting legal proceedings against you for the offence of failing to ensure your child's regular attendance at school.

Pay your penalty notice online

To pay online you will need:

a debit or credit card
the penalty notice number
the penalty notice start date

You can find this information on your penalty notice letter.

Pay now

Payment in part or by instalment is not available for penalty notices. There is no statutory right of appeal once a notice has been issued.

We reserve the right to refuse to accept and/or return any late or part payment of a penalty notice.

Code of conduct

All penalty notices are issued in accordance with a local code of conduct drawn up by us. If you have any questions about the penalty notice or the code of conduct, please contact us.

Withdrawal

A penalty notice may be withdrawn if:

it should not have been issued to you
it has not been issued to you in accordance with the local code of conduct
it contains material errors

If you believe that the penalty notice was wrongly issued, contact our Legal Intervention team as soon as possible. Ask for the penalty notice to be withdrawn, and tell us why you believe it was incorrectly issued.

We will review your request, then we will contact you to let you know if the penalty notice will be withdrawn.

Prosecution

If you do not pay the penalty, and the penalty notice is not withdrawn, you will be prosecuted for the offence of failing to ensure your child's regular attendance at school.