School Penalty Notice Pre-Issue and Local-Authority Referral Procedure

Use this procedure only where an authorised person other than a local-authority officer is issuing a penalty notice on behalf of a maintained or academy school in England. The local authority’s current process applies to the contact route, information required, transmission method and arrangements for preventing duplicate or inappropriate notices.

Before issuing a penalty notice

The authorised issuer [authorised issuer role] must check with [local authority name] before issuing the penalty notice, using [local authority contact route].

Provide the information requested by the local authority and apply [local authority duplicate notice process] so that the proposed notice is not duplicated or issued inappropriately.

Do not issue the penalty notice until the pre-issue check has been completed in accordance with the local authority’s current process.

After issuing a penalty notice

Send [local authority name] a copy of every penalty notice issued by someone other than a local-authority officer, using the authority’s current transmission method.

Record the notice identifier, the date it was issued, the date and method of transmission to the local authority, and the person responsible for sending it.

Retain the transmission record and any confirmation or other record showing that the copy was sent to the local authority.

Local-authority process

Use [local authority current process reference] for the local authority’s current pre-issue checking, copy-sending and duplicate-notice arrangements. If the local authority changes its contact route or transmission method, use the updated process.