Legislate to ban FPNs and prosecutions related to school attendance
We believe school fines & prosecutions do not help to improve school attendance. They are a blunt, ineffective tool & they do not tackle the root cause of attendance difficulties. I'm proposing the law is changed to ban FPNs & prosecutions. This will encourage collaboration rather than punishment.
Signatures
43,525
signatures
Government response threshold (10,000) · 10,000/10,000 · reached
Debate threshold (100,000) · 43,525/100,000
- 21 APR 2026Government respondedDepartment for EducationGovernment reply
Government has no plans to ban fixed penalty notices or prosecutions for non-attendance. Both influence parental behaviour, where support has been exhausted, not engaged with or is inappropriate.
Read full response - 29 MAR 202610,000 signatures reachedEligible for a government response
- 24 MAR 2026Petition opened for signaturesCreated by Natalie Elliott
Background
FPNs were at a record high in the last full academic year (2024-25) which we believe evidences that they are ineffective and punish families and have become a stealth tax. We feel that the attendance legislation is being abused. It was introduced to tackle persistent absenteeism when parents refused to engage with support. We are seeing schools marking absences which should already be marked as authorised as unauthorised. This includes absences for illness, SEND & family emergencies. The attendance drive is driving a wedge between school and home.