"Unauthorized absence" refers to when someone is not present or does not show up for something without permission or approval.
Full definition
The figures mark a 61 per cent increase since 2011, when Michael Gove, the then Education Secretary, vowed to curb the number of
unauthorised absences in primary schools.
However, a Renfrewshire Council spokesman argued that: «The combined figures for truancy and unexplained absence reflect a wide variety of reasons
for unauthorised absence from school for part or all of the school day.
«Even small amounts of
unauthorised absence from school were associated with substantial falls in average Naplan (National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy) test scores.
While the proportion
of unauthorised absences has fallen, the percentage of unauthorised holiday absences has risen, from 3.2 per cent to 4.4 per cent.
«Increasingly over the last few years... there have been more and more schools saying: «No we can't allow this anymore because of this issue
with unauthorised absence.»»
«That is why we have tightened the rules and are supporting schools and local authorities to use their powers to
tackle unauthorised absence.
Levels of overall, authorised and
unauthorised absence by school type, with indicative statistics on persistent absentees.
The move would would ultimately end the current policy which has seen a significant rise in the number of parents being fined
for unauthorised absences.
You can be prosecuted if your child has
unauthorised absence from school - truancy, help with getting your child to school, and legal action to enforce school attendance
«Increasingly over the last few years... there have been more and more schools saying: «No we can't allow this any more because of this issue
with unauthorised absence.»»
The unauthorised absence rate in state - funded primary, state - funded secondary and special schools was 1.3 per cent in 2016/17, an increase from 1.1 per cent in 2015/16 — the rate of unauthorised holiday absence also increasing from 0.3 to 0.4 per cent.
Parents can face fines of # 60 per child, for
unauthorised absences, which rises to # 120 if unpaid after three weeks.
Under the current regulations, schools in England no longer have the latitude to approve term - time holidays apart from in «exceptional cases», which has subsequently led to a surge in parents being fined and prosecuted for
unauthorised absences.
The figures show that the number of people taken to court for
unauthorised absences has increased by nearly two - thirds in four years, with nearly 20,000 people prosecuted annually, The Telegraph has reported.
However if the pupil takes too long to return to school, this could be marked as
an unauthorised absence and parents would have to be informed.
One of the things that we're very excited about is now we're pulling the data together to be able to unpack the meaning of an unexplained or
an unauthorised absence.
This would not amount to an exclusion and, provided this happens quickly, it is unlikely to result in
an unauthorised absence.
The unauthorised absences have a much more dramatic effect or impact on the NAPLAN score than the approved absences, but both matter.
Anybody listening to this would appreciate that
an unauthorised absence is a package of a whole bunch of different things and lots of those things we haven't studied yet in the data.
The leaflet sent out to parents also warns them about fines for
unauthorised absences, including holidays during term time, and says children should attend school if they have a cold, headache or minor illness.
It later abandoned the idea after a rise in
unauthorised absences.
The local education authority may decide that parents could be liable for a fixed penalty notice of # 60 if, due to
unauthorised absences, their child's attendance falls below 90 % and also that parents may be liable for fast track prosecution (involving further fines or a custodial sentence of up to three months) if, due to unauthorised absences, their child's attendance is consistently below 90 %.
experienced a reduction of 0.19 percentage points in the total number of lessons missed due to
unauthorised absence.
In those circumstances, such as poor performance, perhaps being late for work on several occasions or
unauthorised absence, the employee should be entitled firstly to a written warning, thereafter a period of time to improve performance and / or behaviour before a second written warning and then perhaps dismissal if there is a further repeat provided.
The next day they said no more play therapy at school and if we took him out it would be
unauthorised absence.
This release provides information on the levels of overall, authorised and
unauthorised absence in:
Local authority data on penalty notices, parenting orders and parenting contracts (for
unauthorised absence).
How your council encourages attendance at school - truancy,
unauthorised absences, education welfare officer
You can be prosecuted if your child has
unauthorised absence from school - truancy, help with getting your child to school, and legal action to enforce school attendance