School absence fines from September: what is really changing for Ealing parents

British social media has been flooded with graphics and posts warning parents of “new, harsher penalties for absence from September”, higher fines and punishment for every missed day. Families in Ealing, Southall, Northolt and across England have grown anxious. The picture is calmer, and far less sensational, than the online claims suggest.

From September 2026 — the 2026/27 school year — every state school in England will receive its own Attendance Baseline Improvement Expectation, or ABIE. This is an individual target for the school as a whole, not for any particular child. Each school is given a minimum percentage by which it should improve overall attendance that year.

The figure is calculated using AI from the previous year’s data, location, levels of deprivation, pupil characteristics and comparison with similar schools. It is described as a floor rather than a ceiling: schools are expected to aim higher. Those that clearly struggle are to receive support such as attendance hubs, tools and contact with stronger schools. There are no financial penalties for a school, or for parents, simply because a school misses its ABIE.

Those school-level targets are what have been circulating online as “new fines for parents”. They are two different things.

The rules on financial penalties for parents do not change in September 2026. They have applied since 19 August 2024 under the national framework for penalty notices. The threshold is the same across England, including Ealing and every other London borough: 10 sessions of unauthorised absence — usually five full school days — within any 10 school weeks. The sessions need not be consecutive. They can include, for example, three days of term-time holiday plus late arrivals after the register has closed, or a mix of unauthorised codes.

A first penalty notice is £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days. A second notice within three years for the same child is £160 straight away. A third in that period is not issued as a further fixed penalty; the case may instead go to court, with a fine of up to £2,500 and possible other sanctions.

This is not a 2026 novelty. It has been the rule for almost two years and covers all pupils in state schools in England, regardless of background, home language or borough. Ealing, Hounslow, Brent and the rest of west London follow the same framework as Yorkshire or Manchester.

Figures for the 2025/26 school year to the end of June show absence still clearly higher than before the pandemic. Overall attendance was around 93.1 per cent (absence about 6.9 per cent). Persistent absence — a pupil missing 10 per cent or more of sessions — stood at about 18.7 per cent. Pre-pandemic absence was around 4.7 per cent.

London usually records lower absence and persistent absence than the national average. In 2024/25 the government reported the largest improvement in a decade: 5.3 million extra days of learning and 140,000 fewer pupils with chronic absence. Even so, one third of schools did not improve, which is why individual ABIE targets are being introduced.

For parents in Ealing and nearby areas, nothing new changes on fines. Authorised illness, once reported to the school, does not count towards the penalty threshold. Term-time holiday without the headteacher’s permission almost always leads to a fine. Schools are expected to offer support first, with a penalty as a last resort except in clear holiday cases.

If a child is struggling with attendance, the practical step is to speak to the school before the tally reaches 10 unauthorised sessions. Education Welfare teams in Ealing and other London boroughs can help as well as enforce.

From September 2026 schools will have concrete attendance improvement goals intended to push weaker settings to act and to give them tools. For parents, the fine rules stay exactly as they have been since August 2024: 10 unauthorised sessions in 10 weeks can mean an £80/£160 penalty. Claims of brand-new, tougher parental sanctions are an example of school-level policy being turned into family scare stories online. Official Department for Education guidance and local codes of conduct remain the reliable sources — not Instagram graphics. Where a specific situation arises at a child’s school in Ealing or nearby, talking first to the attendance officer is wiser than waiting for a penalty letter.