According to data, there were fewer students in England who missed school without permission at the beginning of the academic year than there were the year before.The unauthorised absence rate in all English schools was 2.0% in the week ending September 13, according to data from the Department for Education (DfE). This is lower than the 2.1% figure from the same week in 2023. It coincides with increased sanctions for parents in England who remove their children from school without permission this academic year, as part of a government initiative to increase attendance in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.The new fines for missing school are £80 instead of £60, and parents will automatically be fined £160 if they receive a second punishment for the same child in a three-year period.If a parent receives more than two fines for each child during a three-year period, the DfE has stated that alternative measures, including as a parenting order or prosecution, may be taken into consideration. Those found guilty may face fines of up to £2,500.

The unauthorised absence rate was 5.0% in the final week of the summer term, which ended on July 19. This was less than the 5.6% rate at the end of the academic year in 2023. The former Conservative administration declared in February that there would be harsher fines. This comes after over 400,000 parents in England received penalty notices for illegal absences in 2022–2023.According to DfE numbers issued in December, nearly nine out of ten (89.3%) of the fines were for illegal holidays, as families attempted to plan cheaper vacations outside of school terms.

Under new national rules, all schools are required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (five days) for unauthorised reasons.

The latest DfE school attendance data also shows that the overall absence rate - authorised and unauthorised - was 4.8% at the start of this term, compared with 5.0% in the equivalent week in September 2023.

Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "Any fall in absence rates, however small, is encouraging and testament to the hard work schools have put in to improving attendance.

"While any absence from education is damaging, attendance is particularly vital at the start of an academic year when pupils are settling into new classes and being exposed to new learning topics.

"There is still work to do to further reduce absence rates, and schools would benefit from a greater network of local support services being available to provide additional help to pupils and families where it is required."