Parents have been fined tens of thousands of pounds across Wales for not sending their children to school in the last year with hundreds of prosecutions and thousands of fixed penalty notices. The largest fine for not sending children to lessons was £1,826.25 (split between two parents for two children).
The figures, obtained under Freedom of Information requests, show fines and prosecutions continue this term as the Welsh Government this week launched a crackdown to try to get more children back into classrooms. More than four years after classrooms first closed in the pandemic school attendance in Wales still trails more than 4% below pre-pandemic levels.
Persistent absence continues to blight education with the 10% persistent absence threshold reached by 31.3% of pupils in 2023/24, up from 14.7% in 2018/19. More than half of all pupils eligible for free school meals were persistently absent in 2023-24, up from 30.4% in 2018/19.
Fixed Penalty Notice fines for non-attendance are £60 rising to £120 if that’s not paid within 28 days. Parents can be prosecuted if they do not pay those fines or if there is a recurring pattern of their children being absent from lessons. For the latest analysis of the biggest stories, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
Teenagers in key exam GCSE year 11 and children from the least wealthy backgrounds are most likely to be off lessons. Earlier this week the Welsh Government announced it is pumping £8.8m into schools in an attempt to get more pupils back into lessons, with a drive to employ more family engagement officers and you can read more about that here.
Average attendance for the 2023/24 academic year in Wales was 90.2% compared to 94.3% in the last pre-pandemic year of 2018/19. Attendance for some age groups and some areas is far lower.
WalesOnline asked all 22 councils for data on fines, prosecutions and fixed penalty notices issued for children absent from school. Less than half of the 22 councils responded within the target 20 working days for Freedom of Information requests, but those that did show they are taking action - only two issued no fines, no fixed penalty notices and no prosecutions.
Fines and prosecutions issued by each council to parents whose children didn't attend school:
Blaenau Gwent
318 fixed penalty notices were issued to parents whose children missed school to school in the academic year 2023/24, 147 of which resulted in prosecutions.
These resulted in 116 fines totalling £61,478 with the largest single fine at £1,044
This term (autum term 2024) a further 82 fixed penalty notices have been issued with two prosecutions currently in process.
Caerphilly
In the acamdedmic year 2023-24 the council issued 24 fixed penalty notices to parents whose children did not attend school and 181 fixed penalty notices resulting in 48 prosecutions.
These led to 29 fines, totalling £6,200 with the largest single fine totalling £660.
So far this term the council has issued 5 FPNs.
Ceredigion
Five or less fixed penalty issued to parents whose children missed school in the academic year 2023-24. There were no prosecutions.
Cardiff
691 fixed penalty notices issued to parents for children not attending school in the academic year 2023/24 with 691 fixed penalty notices issued, 41 prosecutions and 78 pending prosecutions.
40 of 41 prosecutions resulted in fines totalling £8,666 with the largest single fine - £440.
So far this term a further 98 fixed penalty notices have been issued to parents whose children have not attended school, of these four are pending prosecution.
Torfaen
235 penalty notices your council issued to parents whose children missed school in the academic year 2023/24 with seven prosecutions and four pending prosecutions.
Fixed penalty fines totalled £9,240 with the largest single fine following non-payment of FPN and resulting court action totalling. The council said this could have been only a £60 if paid on time.
So far this term a further 98 FPNs have been issued.
Monmouthshire
No fixed penalty notices, prosecutions or fines for non-attendance in the 2023-24 academic year of this term so far.
Neath Port Talbot
24 fixed penalty notices issued for non-attendance in the academic year 2023/24 and 320 warnings issued resulting in 24 prosecutions.
A total of 97 £60 FPN fines were issued with a further 58 fines for £120 after the initial fine was not paid on time.
So far this term the council has issued 36 warnings to parents whose children have missed school.
Wrexham
15 fixed penalty notices issued to parents whose children missed school in the academic year 2023/24 leadfing to seven prosecutions with the largest fine totalling £420.
This term fewer than five fixed penalty notices have been issued.
Pembrokeshire
164 fixed penalty notices your council issued to parents for not sending their children to school in the academic year 2023-24 with six cases resulting in prosecutions.
122 FPNs resulted in a £60 fine and 36 resulted in a £120 fine. All six cases that resulted in prosecutions received fines of varying amounts with the largest fine being; £1,826.25 (this was split between 2 parents for 2 children)
so far this term 44 fixed penalty notices have been issued.
Gwynedd
21 fixed penalty notices issued in the academic year 2023/24. The single largest fine was £440 per parent so when both parents were prosecuted this was £880 per family.
Powys
No fixed penalty notices, fines or prosecutions this term or last academic year.
Flintshire
91 fixed penalty notices and 10 prosecutions last academic year leading five fines totalling £1,100, the largest of which was £660.
This term six fixed penalty notices have been issued.
Latest data published by the Welsh Government on December 3 shows:
- The average attendance for the 2023/24 academic year was 90.2%, down from 94.3% in 2018-19. This is a fall in attendance of 4.1 percentage points.
- The average attendance in 2023-24 for pupils eligible for free school meals was 84.7%, down from 91.2% (6.5 percentage points) since 2018-19.
- Average attendance for males was slightly higher than for females in both 2022-23 and 2023-24, reversing the typical trend in 2018/19 and earlier years where attendance for females was higher. Attendance for both males and females fell by at least 3.9 percentage points between 2018-19 and 2023-24.
- Average attendance in 2023-24 was lowest amongst pupils in year 11 at 84.7% and highest amongst pupils in year three at 92.5%. Attendance amongst year 11 pupils was 8.5 percentage points lower than it was in 2018-19. Attendance in primary school year groups fell by 2.4 to 2.8 percentage points over the same period.
- Illness accounted for 4.4% of all school sessions in 2023/24, up from 3.0% in 2018-19.
- The 10% persistent absence threshold was reached by 31.3% of pupils in 2023-24, up from 14.7% in 2018-19.
- 52.9% of pupils eligible for FSM were persistently absent in 2023-24, up from 30.4% in 2018-19
Comparison of 2024-25 with same period in the 2023-24 academic year as of December 3
- The average attendance for this academic year to date is 91.7%, up from 91.3% over the same period in the 2023-24 academic year.
- The average attendance for this academic year to date for pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) is 86.5%, up from 86.2% over the same period in the 2023-24 academic year. For pupils not eligible for FSM the average attendance is 93.3%, up from 93.0%.
- The average attendance for this academic year to date for males is 91.8%, up from 91.3% over the same period in the 2023-24. For females the average attendance is 91.6%, up from 91.2%.
- Average attendance falls as pupils get older. The average attendance for this academic year to date is lowest amongst pupils in year 11 (88.0%) and highest amongst pupils in years 3 and 4 (93.6%). Attendance amongst year 11 pupils is 1.1 percentage points higher than it was in the same period in the 2023-24 academic year.
- The most common reason for absence in this academic year to date is illness, accounting for 3.6% of sessions. This was also the most common reason in the same period of the 2023-24 academic year.
- The 10% persistent absence threshold has been reached by 4.3% of pupils for this academic year to date, down from 4.8% over the same period of the 2023/24 academic year.
- 10.0% of pupils eligible for FSM were persistently absent, down from 10.7% over the same period of the 2023-24 academic year.
* Pupils are persistently absent if they have missed 10% of sessions or more of the total number of sessions in the academic year. The year to date figures will increase due to more pupils reaching the 10% threshold as the academic year progresses
