A pioneering government scheme to crack down on parents of truants in Liverpool is driving down the number of children skipping school. More than 200 fixed penalty notices have been issued since the city became one of the first LEA's in the country to launch the scheme in June 2004.

Education welfare officers, head teachers and the police can hand out fines of up to £100 to parents who fail to send their children to school regularly. Fines are only issued if they don't take action following a warning letter. Help is available to parents who need support, such as in-school counselling, parent support sessions, specialist mentoring, school reports and referral to Education Welfare Services.

The city council's executive director of children's services, Colin Hilton, said:- "Every single day counts during a child's education, and all the evidence we have is that pupils who truant are more likely to leave school without qualifications and not achieve their full potential. The fixed penalty notices are proving to be a valuable deterrent - in nearly a third of cases where we sent out a warning letter, there was an improvement in attendance and no further action was required. Attendance rates are rising and we are being asked by more parents for support in making sure their children don't miss out on lessons. But there is still much more work to be done and we will continue to use all the powers at our disposal to improve attendance." 

If the parent refuses to pay, they face the possibility of having to attend magistrates court, which can impose a fine of up to £2,500 and parenting classes or a community sentence.

Principal Attendance and Welfare Officer Lesley Sheriff, added:- "Our attendance levels are improving against the national trend, but we still have too many students playing truant. In a number of cases it is with the active consent of parents. Children have a fundamental right to a first class education, and parents must play their part in supporting schools by ensuring that their children attend regularly. Penalty notices can play an important role in making parents aware of their responsibilities."

A number of other initiatives are in place in Liverpool to maintain high rates of attendance. They include: radio and poster campaigns; truancy sweeps; a monitoring attendance programme; and confidential telephone lines for members of the public to report pupils who are out of school.