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I’m looking into the number of prosecutions and fines for non-attendance at school, particularly by families of children with special educational needs and disabilities. I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information Act.

Can you answer the four questions below for the most recent six full academic years for which data is available (ie. 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25). For each academic year, please provide:

1. The total number of prosecutions initiated by the Local Authority against parents under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 for their child's non-attendance at school.
2019/20 – data unavailable 2020/21 – data unavailable
2021/22 – data unavailable
2022/23 – 90 prosecution letters sent, of which 24 were heard in court
2023/24 – 105 prosecution letters sent, of which 48 cases were heard in court
2024/25 – 61 prosecution letters sent, of which 28 cases were heard in court
NB: numbers are provided per parent/per child

2. The number of prosecutions initiated by the Local Authority against parents under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 for their child's non-attendance at school, where the child concerned had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) at the time the prosecution was initiated.
2019/20 – data unavailable 2020/21 – data unavailable
2021/22 – data unavailable
2022/23 – 5 prosecution letters sent, of which less than 5 were heard in court 2023/24 – 0 prosecution letters sent
2024/25 – less than 5 prosecution letters sent, of which 0 cases were heard in court
NB: numbers are provided per parent/per child

3. The total number of fixed penalty notices issued by the Local Authority against parents under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 for their child's non-attendance at school, where the child involved had an Education, Health and Care Plan at the time the fine was issued.
We have not historically recorded SEND data in relation to fines and prosecutions, so a manual search would be needed to complete the request which would exceed 18 hours. (Section 12) We have started to record SEND information from 2025/26

  4. The amount of money raised by the local authority through fixed penalty notices issued against parents under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 for non-attendance at school, where the child involved had an Education, Health and Care Plan at the time the fine was issued.
We have not historically recorded SEND data in relation to fines and prosecutions, so a manual search would be needed to complete the request which would exceed 18 hours. (Section 12). We have started to record SEND information from 2025/26