Before proposing an attendance contract, check whether the family understands the proposal, the barriers have been explored and the school can deliver its own commitments. Record why this particular agreement could help. An absence percentage alone cannot make that decision.
This checklist is for attendance leaders, headteachers, pastoral teams, DSLs, family-support staff and SENCos in England. Use it to reach one of three recorded decisions: explore a contract with the parent, complete specified support or evidence work first, or explain why a contract isn't appropriate. It isn't a scoring system.
First, be clear about the agreement being proposed
Under the DfE's July 2026 statutory guidance, an attendance contract is a formal written agreement between a parent and a school or local authority about irregular attendance. Independent schools and non-maintained special schools are excluded as school contracting parties. The agreement is voluntary, isn't legally binding and cannot be agreed in the parent's absence. Its purpose is supportive, offering an alternative to prosecution.
Paragraphs 142 to 154 explain the contract process. There is no universal obligation to offer one, and it won't suit every family, but it should always be explored before an education supervision order or prosecution. Attendance legal intervention concerns pupils of compulsory school age and requires an individual decision.
A Notice to Improve is a separate instrument. In the circumstances described in paragraphs 185 to 193, it usually offers a final opportunity to engage with support before a penalty notice, with an improvement period of three to six weeks. It isn't automatic and its timeframe shouldn't be copied into an attendance contract. Regulation 5 of the 2024 penalty notice amendment regulations creates a duty to consider issuing a notice at the specified threshold. Reaching it doesn't require automatic issuance or agreement to a contract.
On 22 October 2026, DfE published its Week 41 rapid attendance estimates, covering 7 September to 9 October. These are revisable national estimates: register updates can change the figures. The release adds population context; it doesn't change attendance-contract rules or provide evidence for an individual contract. The readiness decision still needs the pupil's and family's circumstances and the school's support record.
Work through the contract-readiness checks
- Can the record explain the attendance concern? Confirm the dates, expected sessions, register accuracy and unresolved marks. Keep authorised absence and unauthorised absence distinct. Use the pattern to ask questions about what is happening. It cannot diagnose a condition, prove harm or cause, assign blame or predict future absence.
- Whose account is still missing? Hear the parent and include the pupil if they are old enough to understand. Record what each says would help, any disagreement and communication support needed. “We haven't obtained their view” must remain different from “they declined”. If a parent misses the meeting, seek the reason and rearrange contact; don't treat silence as agreement.
- Has the barrier been matched to practical help? Explore school conditions, relationships, health, SEND, transport and family circumstances without assuming which explains the absence. Check reasonable adjustments and relevant existing plans. Give each proposed action a reason, a named owner and an accessible way for the family to use it.
- What support reached the family? Separate offered, available, delivered and accessibly received support. A referral records a request; check whether help started. A missing delivery entry means the outcome is unknown. Resolve gaps before describing earlier support as unsuccessful or calling a family disengaged.
- Why would formalising support help now? Explain why the voluntary early help approach hasn't worked or isn't appropriate, and what a contract would add. Discuss that reasoning with the parent. A more formal document cannot repair an unavailable service or an adjustment the school hasn't provided.
Write reciprocal commitments before asking for signatures
Section 19 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 provides the statutory basis. The written agreement needs the parent's requirements for a specified period and the school's or local authority's support to help meet them. Tailor both sides to this family. Check that the person promising support has confirmed it can happen.
For each requirement, write the linked support, who provides it, when it starts, how access will work and what happens if it becomes unavailable. Then set the contract's duration and review arrangements. DfE says most last three to twelve months; there is no minimum or maximum. Choose a period for the family's circumstances and review earlier when something changes.
Write up the agreement together in language the parent can easily understand, with translation where necessary. The parent signs, with a signature on behalf of the governing body or local authority, and the parties receive copies. Check understanding of the commitments and the right to decline. A signature on something inaccessible doesn't settle whether the proposed support is usable.
DfE's communication guide, updated 19 August 2026, recommends simple language, translation or a different contact method where needed, alongside clear access to help. Apply that here by checking how the parent can contact the support owner and what happens next. Make small, achievable commitments that reflect the family's circumstances. The guide supports the conversation; the statutory guidance and section 19 govern the contract.
If the work is still at the initial planning stage, the first attendance support meeting guide helps establish ownership. The delivery audit helps test what happened before the contract decision.
A readiness record that pauses the proposal
Every detail in this example is invented or combined for explanation. It represents no real pupil, family, school or customer.
A Year 8 pupil's morning absence continues after arrival support was offered. A draft contract proposes daily arrival through a quieter entrance and a weekly parent check-in. The parent says the entrance was locked twice and asks for meetings outside a work shift. The pupil says they don't know which adult will meet them.
- Barrier and evidence
- Arrival uncertainty is reported by pupil and parent. Two entrance failures are confirmed; three other mornings have no delivery record. Their outcomes remain unknown.
- Support commitment to repair
- The pastoral lead confirms a named arrival adult, cover arrangements and an unlocked entrance. The family-support worker agrees an accessible contact time with the parent.
- Human decision and next review
- Hold the contract proposal while the school establishes reliable support and checks the missing entries. The attendance lead owns that work and agrees a review in two weeks with the pupil and parent. That review can reconsider whether a contract would help.
The two-week date belongs to this readiness review. It doesn't impose a two-week contract or a Notice to Improve. Staff have identified unfinished work and kept the decision open.
When a commitment isn't met, ask why and record the response
A contract needs active review after agreement. Contact the parent for an explanation of non-compliance and consider whether it is reasonable and whether the agreement remains useful. If circumstances outside the parent's control make compliance difficult, meet to review and amend it. Check the school's own delivery at the same time.
Where no explanation is given or it isn't satisfactory, follow the guidance's warning and review process. Record further attempts to make the agreement work, any amendment, and the decision and reasons if it is no longer useful. Refusal to sign or failure to comply has no standalone criminal sanction. Breach creates no contractual or tort liability. It may become evidence in a later prosecution about continuing irregular attendance, so accuracy and the parent's explanation matter.
Attendance patterns must never automatically trigger a contract, referral, sanction, penalty or legal route. A concern about possible harm still needs prompt consideration through the DSL and the school's safeguarding procedures; contract preparation mustn't delay that work.
How Student Radar supports the review
Attendance Playbooks supports staff choosing and recording attendance responses. Where enabled, authorised staff can use the Pupil Profile timeline to review relevant dated history. Review that alongside the support record and family contact, within each source's permissions. Keep information gaps visible and share only what the review requires.
Staff confirm ownership, actual delivery and the next review. These records don't select a contract, prove support was effective or replace the parent's agreement. The output is a reasoned decision with someone responsible for the next step.
Sources and further reading
- Department for Education, Working together to improve school attendance, statutory guidance for England, updated 9 July 2026. The July 2026 guidance PDF covers barriers and support at paragraphs 16 to 22, legal intervention and attendance contracts at 138 to 154, and the separate Notice to Improve considerations at 185 to 193.
- Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, section 19, statutory provisions for parenting contracts, including written requirements, support, signatures and the absence of contract or tort liability for breach.
- Department for Education, A guide for schools on communicating with parents about attendance, updated 19 August 2026. Supports accessible communication, clear routes to help and achievable steps tailored to families.
- Department for Education, Pupil attendance in schools: Week 41 2026, official statistics published 22 October 2026, covering 7 September to 9 October 2026. These rapid national estimates are revisable and do not establish an individual family's circumstances or change the contract rules.
- The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024, in force from 19 August 2024. Regulation 5 introduces the threshold duty to consider issuing a penalty notice, preserving the distinction between consideration and issuance.