Regarding the response to a previous request for information about Education Prosecutions and Fines, please could you confirm the number of prosecutions initiated in 2024/25 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.
Whilst the figure stated in the previous request for information of 294 prosecutions in the year 2024-25 is correct, it should be noted that the 294 prosecutions actually relate to 221 individual children. The difference arises because, in some cases, prosecutions were brought against both parents, meaning the same child was counted twice, because the question asked for the number of prosecutions rather than the number of children.
Of the 221 children involved in prosecutions between 01/09/2024 and 31/08/26, 14 children had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) at the time of prosecution. This resulted in 18 prosecutions, as both parents were prosecuted in relation to four of those children.