Children Missing
Education – Policy &
Procedure
Children & Young People’s
Service
Version 1 (06/02/08)
CHILDREN MISSING EDUCATION – POLICY & PROCEDURE
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CME Policy Document Version 1 (06/02/08)
Contents
Page
1.
Introduction
4/5
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Definition of ‘Suitable Education’
4
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Duty to Identify Children Missing Education
5
2.
Implementing the new duty
6
3.
How will the new duty be monitored?
6
4.
Why children go missing from education?
6/7
5.
How & when to consider Police involvement
8
6.
How & when to consider Social Care involvement
8
7.
Reducing the risk of children not receiving education
8/9
8.
Children who do not have an educational placement
9
9.
8.1
Identification
9
8.2
Notification route
9
8.3
Publication of notification route
10
8.4
Responsibility of the Named Officer
Monitoring & Development
10/11
12
9.1
Current membership of group
12
9.2
Consideration for extended membership
of the group
12
9.3
Consideration for future membership
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CHILDREN MISSING EDUCATION – POLICY & PROCEDURE
Contents Cont’d…..
Appendices:
A
Legislation
B
Processes for Removing a child from a school
roll
C
Missing Child Checklist (Completed by
Educational Welfare Officers)
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Common Transfer File Requirement
19
D
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1. INTRODUCTION
In 2002, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) set a target in its
strategic framework document that charged all Local Authorities with the
responsibility to ensure that multi-agency systems were in place to identify
and track children missing education or at risk of doing so by 2005.
The Every Child Matters (ECM): Change for Children document (December
2004) reiterated the Government’s expectation that:
‘..by December 2005 every Local Authority should have systematic
arrangements in place to identify children missing from education, so
that suitable provision can be made for them, drawing on the nonstatutory guidance issued in July 2004.’
To assist Local Authorities, the DfES (now Department for Children, Schools
& Families – DCSF) issued non-statutory guidance (Identifying and
Maintaining Contact with Children Missing, or at risk of going missing from
Education) in July 2004.
The non-statutory guidance includes a ‘Self Evaluation Checklist’ to help Local
Authorities monitor their progress in five areas, based on 22 process steps.
These five areas are:
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Strategic Management & Leadership
Networks & Points of Contact
Information Systems
Provision Brokering Services
Effective Pupil Tracking Systems
From 2007 there is a statutory duty on all Local Authorities in England and
Wales to have systems and procedures in place to monitor Children Missing
Education (DCSF Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities in England to
Identify Children Not Receiving Education – February 2007). A key aspect of
the ECM agenda is about encouraging relevant agencies to work together to
design and deliver integrated services. The new duty to identify children who
are not receiving a suitable education should be a key part of these
arrangements.
DCSF
DCSF Statutory Guidance defines ‘suitable education’ as follows:
In relation to a child / young person this means efficient full-time
education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude and to any special
educational needs they may have.
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Duty to Identify Children Missing Education
The duty applies in relation to children / young people of compulsory school
age who are not on a school roll, and who are not receiving a suitable
education otherwise than being at school (for example, at home, privately, or
in alternative provision).
The duty does not apply in relation to children / young people who are
registered at a school who are not attending regularly. The new duty
complements and reinforces duties that already exist for schools to monitor
attendance.
The duty does not apply to children / young people who are being educated at
home. Monitoring arrangements already exist for children being educated at
home.
ContactPoint, is to be implemented across England by the end of 2008 and
will assist Local Authorities in discharging their duties.
Local Authorities are responsible for meeting the new requirements under
section 436A (inserted before section 437 in Chapter 2, Part 6 of the
Education Act 1996.) They also need to put in place arrangements for joint
working and appropriate information sharing with other Local Authorities and
relevant partner agencies which come into contact with families and children.
The new duty should strengthen and compliment existing duties under the
Children Act 2004.
Relevant partner agencies include:
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Education & Schools (Maintained, Independent, Academies, Pupil
Referral Units, Special and City Technology Colleges)
Children’s Social Care
Adult Social Care
Health
Police
Youth Offending
Housing
Other key partner agencies include:
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Inland Revenue
Connexions
Youth Services (Statutory & Voluntary)
Immigration Service
Voluntary & Community Organisations
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2. IMPLEMENTING THE NEW DUTY
The purpose of the new duty is to ensure that children missing from education
are identified quickly and that effective tracking systems are put in place to
enable effective action to be taken to provide them with suitable education.
The key processes for tracking children missing education are:
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receive information about a child / young person
check if place of education is already known
log / record details
locate and contact family
determine the child / young person’s needs – if appropriate
identify & access available provision & places
monitor attendance
track child / young person
3. HOW WILL THE NEW DUTY BE MONITORED?
Evidence is already looked for during Joint Area Review / Annual
Performance Assessment under ‘Outcome: Staying Safe: Key Judgement
2.5’.’
This covers the following:

Services are effective in establishing the identity & whereabouts of all
children and young people 0 – 16;
o There are secure procedures and monitoring systems for
ensuring that all children and young people 0 – 16 are known to
the health and education services;
o Targeted services bring children and young people who they
support to the attention of the education department when the
children and young people are not attending education or
training;
o There are secure arrangements for sharing information when
children and young people 0 – 16 move across areas, including
unknown destinations.
4. WHY CHILDREN GO MISSING FROM EDUCATION?
Children / young people fall out of education in a number of ways:
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Fail to start appropriate provision and hence never enter the
system;
Cease to attend, due to illegal exclusion or withdrawal; or
Fail to complete a transition between providers (e.g. being unable to
find a suitable school place after moving to a new local authority
area, or after leaving a custodial establishment).
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Some children/young people who experience certain life events could be more
at risk of not receiving education. These include:
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Children/young people who have committed offences
Children/young people living in women’s refuges
Children/young people of homeless families, perhaps living in
temporary accommodation, house of multiple occupancy or Bed and
Breakfast
Young runaways
Children/young people with long term medical or emotional problems
Children/young people affected by substance misuse
Unaccompanied asylum seekers
Children/young people of refugees and asylum seeking families
Children/young people in new immigrant families, who are not yet
established in the UK and may not have fixed addresses
Children/young people who have been trafficked to, or within the UK
Children/young people who are in public care
Children/young people who are privately fostered
Young carers
Teenage mothers, and
Children/young people who are permanently excluded from school,
particularly those excluded illegally, e.g. for problematic behaviour or
offending.
Other vulnerable groups include:
Service children
Traveller children
Excluded pupils
They are likely to experience high mobility
both in and outside the UK.
At times the high mobility of these children
means they can be at risk of going missing
from education.
Due to the new regulations made under the
Education & Inspection Act 2006 education
has to be provided for pupils from the sixth
day. Some pupils may be unofficially
excluded which is illegal and this will need
to be challenged by the Local Authority.
There are some circumstances when a registered pupil of statutory school
age is absent without explanation. Most cases are relatively minor whereby a
child / young person returns home quickly or is not believed to be in any
serious danger. However there are more serious cases when a child / young
person may become a victim of crime, such as being abducted. Schools
should contact the parents on the first day of absence without explanation
(First Day Contact.)
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5. HOW AND WHEN TO CONSIDER POLICE INVOLVEMENT
There may be some occasions when a child/young person not receiving
education may have been a victim of a crime.
If the answer to any of the following questions is YES then a referral to the
Police should be made.
Have there been suspicions in the past concerning this child / young
person & family which together with the sudden disappearance are
worrying?
Have there been any past concerns about the child / young person
associating with significantly older young people or adults?
Was there a significant incident prior to the child / young person’s
unexplained absence?
Is there a good reason to believe that the child / young person’s
absence may be the result of being the victim of a crime?
For example:
 Is this very sudden & unexpected behaviour?
 Has the child / young person gone missing with
their family?
 Has the child / young person gone missing without
their family?
 Is there any health, religious or cultural reason to
believe that the child / young person is at risk of
harm?
6. HOW AND WHEN TO CONSIDER SOCIAL CARE INVOLVEMENT
If the answer to any of the following questions is YES then a referral to
Children’s Social Care (Access Team) should be made.
1. Is the child/young person the subject of a child protection plan (on
the child protection register)?
2. Is the child / young person in the care of the local authority?
3. Is there social care involvement?
7. REDUCING THE RISK OF CHILDREN NOT RECEIVING EDUCATION
There is a range of systems, processes and procedures currently used by
Local Authorities to reduce the risk that children / young people fall out of the
education system and go missing. Existing good practice broadly falls into the
following categories where the Local Authority introduces measures to:
1. Reduce the likelihood that children / young people fall out of the
education system, such as audits of the rolls and registers of schools;
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2. Identify and locate children / young people who are not receiving
education, such as via truancy sweeps and the provision of named
points of contact to receive notification of children from other agencies,
and
3. Re-engage the children / young people with appropriate educational
provision, for example via multi-agency panels to broker admissions.
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CHILDREN WHO DO NOT HAVE AN EDUCATIONAL PLACEMENT
8.1
Identification
Children / young people who are not receiving an education are identified in
one of two ways:
i.
ii.
Notification from an individual and / or agency
Reports from pupil database, identifying children known to the Local
Authority without a school place:
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8.2
Monthly report identifying children / young people who have
been removed from a school roll and do not have a destination /
current educational placement;
Annual report to show pupils allocated a school place as part of
the transfer cycle / first time admissions process who did not
appear as part of the first whole school roll following starting
date;
Termly report showing children of statutory school age and have
no school place allocated;
Monthly report showing children / young people who have been
refused a school place where no alternative place has been
requested.
Notification Route
The Identification, Referral and Tracking Guidance (2003) required all Local
Authorities to have a named individual responsible for receiving details of
children found missing from education and for brokering support for them
through the most appropriate agencies.
The named person for Leicestershire Local Authority is:
JoAnne Rees
Deputy Service Manager
Access and Welfare Service
Room 144
County Hall
Glenfield
Leicester LE3 8RF

E-mail
0116 3058162
cme@leics.gov.uk jrees@leics.gov.uk
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8.3
Publication of notification route
Stakeholders and partner agencies are made aware of how to contact the
named person if they become aware that a child / young person may be
missing from education.
List of Stakeholders
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Parents / carers
Schools / educational providers
GPs
Health Visitors
Hospitals / Walk in services
Borough Councils e.g. Housing
Children’s Social Care
Connexions
Youth Offending Service
Local Authority staff
Voluntary Organisations
Other Local Authorities
Police
General public
Publicity
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direct e-mail to all Local Authority staff
Schools via EIS
entry in Primary & Secondary Your Guides
Leicestershire County Council website
Schools’ intranet
partner agency websites / databases, e.g. Bridges, Connexions
direct memos to partner agencies
inclusion in training, e.g. school administrator, child protection
Leicestershire matters
It is anticipated that the Local Authority will be producing a range of publicity
materials to raise awareness in relation to CME referrals including posters,
fliers and business cards.
This publicity is currently repeated annually to take account of staff changes.
8.4
Responsibility of the Named Officer
The named officer has responsibility for:
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Receiving notifications of an individual child / young person missing from
education
Receiving & producing reports from the Local Authority’s database giving
details of children of statutory school age, living in Leicestershire, who do
not have a school place
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Establishing why a child / young person (identified by notification and
reporting process) does not have an educational placement
Acting as lead professional to ensure that the child / young person is able
to re-engage with education
Referring the child/young person to relevant services or agencies as
appropriate
Arranging multi-agency meetings as necessary
Maintaining a record of children/young people to enable effective
monitor/tracking to take place. This record should contain the following:
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details of child/young person
date of birth
date left education
date Access & Welfare became involved
last school placement
Area Placement & Support Panel?
child/young person in public care?
Statement of Special Educational Need?
additional Information
Missing Child Checklist completed (See Appendix D)?
outcomes
date resolved
resolved – Yes/No?
The record is saved monthly to provide ongoing access to statistical
information.
This CME processes link in closely with the following key areas of work
undertaken by the named officer:
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The process to ensure an equal distribution amongst schools of children/
young people with challenging behaviour particularly those who are reentering schools following permanent exclusion. These children/young
people are discussed at the appropriate Area Placement & Support Panel
as part of the In-Year Fair Access Protocol.
Local Authority & Individual school’s admission policies.
Promoting the educational achievement solving complex cases of Children
in Care through the Local Authority’s monthly PLACE (Promoting Looked
After Children Education) panel.
Promoting the educational achievement and solving complex cases for
children/young people with involvement from the Youth Offending Service
through the Local Authority’s YOIS panel held every two months.
Promoting the educational achievement and solving complex cases of with
children/young people statements of Special Educational Needs through
the Local Authority’s twice monthly Statement panel.
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9
MONITORING AND DEVELOPMENT
The Children Missing Education Group currently meets on a half termly basis
to monitor and develop the strategic work to identify children/young people
missing from education and to re-engage them with suitable provision.
It is anticipated that as the group expands there may be the need for two
separate meetings – A strategic group and a Case Monitoring/Tracking group.
9.1
Current Membership of the Group:
Children & Young People’s Service
 Deputy Service Manager (Access and Welfare Service / Nominated
officer for CME)
 Service Manager (Access and Welfare Service)
 Head of Knowledge Management
 Senior Education/Training Support Officer (Student Support
Service)
 Principal Educational Psychologist (Educational Psychology
Service)
 Management Information Systems Manager
 Database Manager/MIS Team Leader
 SEN Officer (Special Educational Needs Assessment Service)
 Principal Education Welfare Officer
 Traveller Education Service Co-ordinator
Other Agencies / Services
 Connexions Representative
 Project Manager ContactPoint
9.2
Consideration for Extended Membership of the Group:
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Administrative Assistant (With CME responsibility)
Youth Offending Service Representative
LACES Representative
Specialist Teaching Service Representative
Parent Partnership Representative
Children’s Social Care Representative (Service Manager Family
Placements)
Health Service Representative
Leicestershire Police Representative
Housing Department Representative
Elected Member
Leicester City CME Representative
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9.3
Consideration for Future Proposed Membership:
Strategic Group:
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Deputy Service Manager (Access and Welfare Service / Nominated
Officer for CME)
Service Manager (Access and Welfare Service)
Head of Knowledge Management
Senior Education / Training Support Officer (Student Support
Service)
Principal Educational Psychologist (Educational Psychology
Service)
Management Information Systems Manager
SEN Officer (Special Educational Needs Assessment Service)
Principal Education Welfare Officer
Traveller Education Service Co-ordinator
Connexions Representative
Project Manager ContactPoint
Youth Offending Service Representative
LACES Representative
Parent Partnership Representative
Specialist Teaching Service Representative
Children’s Social Care Representative
Health Service Representative
Leicestershire Police Representative
Housing Department Representative
Elected Member – to be invited to attend as an observer
It may be appropriate for the Strategic Group to be chaired by the named
officer for CME and to meet once a term.
Case Monitoring / Tracking Group:
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Deputy Service Manager (Access and Welfare Service / Named
officer for CME)
Administrative Assistant (With CME responsibility)
Senior Education / Training Support Officer (Student Support
Service)
Educational Psychology Service Representative
SEN Officer (Special Educational Needs Assessment Service)
Database Manager / MIS Team Leader
Education Welfare Service Representative
Traveller Education Service Co-ordinator
Connexions Representative
Youth Offending Service Representative
LACES Representative
Specialist Teaching Service Representative
Children’s Social Care Representative (From Access Team)
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It may be appropriate for the Case Monitoring / Tracking group to meet every
4 – 6 weeks.
JoAnne Rees
Deputy Service Manager
Access and Welfare Service
October 2007
f:access and welfare/CME pilot/2008/policy and procedures
February 2008
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APPENDIX A
Legislation
There are various statutory duties upon LAs and parents (supplemented by
guidance) relating to the provision of education and the safeguarding of the welfare
of children and which may be relevant to children missing education. The principal
provisions are as follows:
Section 14(1) of the 1996 Education Act provides that a local education authority
must make sure there are sufficient schools for providing education in their area. For
these purposes, the schools must be sufficient in number, character and equipment
to provide all pupils with the opportunity of appropriate education (s. 14(2)).
“Appropriate education” means, broadly education which is desirable in view of the
pupils’ different ages, abilities and aptitudes and the different periods for which they
may be expected to remain at school (s. 14(3)).
Section 7 of the 1996 Education Act provides that the parent of every child of
compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education
suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs he may
have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.
Furthermore Section 437 (1) of the 1996 Education Act provides that if it appears
to a local education authority that a child of compulsory school age in their area is not
receiving suitable education, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise,
they must serve a notice in writing on the parent (“a school attendance order”)
requiring him to satisfy them within the period specified in the notice that the child is
receiving such education.
Section 19 (1) of the 1996 Education Act requires every local education authority
to make arrangements for the provision of suitable education at school or otherwise
than at school for those children of compulsory school age who by reason of illness,
exclusion from school or otherwise, may not for any period receive suitable education
unless such arrangements are made for them. For these purposes, “suitable”
education is defined as “efficient education suitable to the age, ability, aptitude and to
any special educational needs the child (or young person) may have.” (s. 19(6)).
Moreover, section 19(4A) of the 1996 Education Act provides:
“In determining what arrangements to make under subsection (1) in the case of any
child or pupil, a local education authority shall have regard to guidance given from
time to time by the Secretary of State.”
s. 175 of the Education Act 2002 (which came into force on June 1 2004) imposes
a duty upon Local Authorities and governing bodies to exercise their functions with a
view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. For these purposes,
“functions” includes the powers and duties of Local Authorities and governing bodies.
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APPENDIX B
CURRENT PROCEDURE FOR REMOVING A CHILD FROM A SCHOOL ROLL
(other than the normal transfer cycle)
The Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006 set out the circumstances in which a
school can remove a child from the school’s roll.
There are significant child protection implications when the whereabouts of a child is not know
and we would therefore ask all schools to follow the following procedures.
A child should not be removed from the roll by any school unless:
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Written confirmation has been received by the Local Authority from the parent that the child
is receiving education otherwise than in school (e.g. home tuition), or
the pupil has been registered at another school (confirmation from the receiving school must
be sought), or
the pupil has died, or
the child has been permanently excluded and the exclusion has been upheld by an
independent appeal panel, or the parent has notified the LA that they do not wish to appeal,
or the day after the last date on which an appeal may be made, or
the Education Welfare Service has failed to locate the whereabouts of a child who has been
continuously absent for four weeks and at no time during that period has the absence been
authorised by the school. (see below Missing Children).
Unless the school has confirmation of one of the above then the child should remain on the
school roll. Where there is dual registration, e.g. where the child is on roll at student support
service and at a school, the school should not remove the child from the roll without the consent
of the LA.
Where a child is being removed from the roll, schools should ensure that the correct coding is
entered against their SIMS record (for a child that EWS have failed to locate, the code “other”
should be selected and the word “missing” entered in the destination free text field). This will
ensure that the correct information is transferred to the LA within the monthly electronic return.
Missing Children
The Children and Young People’s Service has put in place rigorous arrangements for identifying
and maintaining contact with children missing, or at risk of going missing from education. The
named individual responsible for receiving details of children found missing from education and
for brokering support for them through the most appropriate agencies is:
JoAnne Rees
Deputy Service Manager
Access and Welfare Service
Room 144
County Hall
Glenfield
Leicester

LE3 8RF
0116 305 8162
email: cme@leics.gov.uk
jrees@leics.gov.uk
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The process of tracking pupils without an educational placement is part of our collective
responsibility and ongoing commitment to safeguarding the welfare of young people. It is vital
that anyone who becomes aware that a child is not, or does not appear to be in education,
notifies the named person with the responsibility for pupils missing from education in
Leicestershire.
If a school has concerns that a child is missing or if there is no explanation for their continued
absence from school, the school should also contact their Education Welfare Officer without
delay. The Education Welfare Officer will then make enquiries as to the whereabouts of that
child, using a standard Missing Child Checklist (See Appendix C). If the child is continuously
absent for a period of not less than four weeks and the enquiries of both the school and the
Education Welfare Officer have failed to locate that child, the Education Welfare Officer will
advise the school to remove the child from roll. The school should retain a copy of the
completed Missing Child Checklist and also place the child’s name in the National Lost Pupils’
Database, which is a repository for the Common Transfer File (See Appendix D). Schools
should not remove the child from roll until advised to do so by the Education Welfare Officer.
Your co-operation in following these procedures is essential to ensure the safety of children in
Leicestershire. This will enable both the school and the Local Authority to identify possible
missing children and to follow up all concerns.
Contacts:
Service
Name
Telephone
E-mail
Access & Welfare
Service
JoAnne Rees
(Named CME
Officer)
Joe Martin
(CME Admin
Assistant)
Thelma Lewis
(Principal EWO)
For technical
queries
Mike Challands
(Advice about Lost
Pupil Database)
0116 305 8162
cme@leics.gov.uk
jrees@leics.gov.uk
0116 305 7821
jpmartin@leics.gov.uk
0116 305 6326
tlewis@leics.gov.uk
Access & Welfare
Service
Education Welfare
Service
LEAMIS
Database Team
0116 231 1280
0116 305 6637
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APPENDIX C
LEICESTERSHIRE EDUCATION WELFARE SERVICE
MISSING CHILD CHECKLIST (COMPLETED BY EWO)
Name of Child(ren)
Date of Birth
Last known Address
School
Date last Attended
Date notified To Education Welfare Officer as Missing
Date(s)
Response:
School to check possible
whereabouts with staff and
pupils
School to contact
Any known extended family
and/or Emergency Contact
number
Check Pupil Database,
including EWS database
field
Visit last known address.
Check with neighbours
If council property, check
with Housing Department
If child is on Child Protection
Register, check with
Register Custodian
Check with agencies with
known involvement, e.g.
Social Services, Youth
Offending Team, G.P.
Connexions, etc.
I confirm that the above checks have been undertaken and that I have been unable to
trace this child.
Signed
(Education Welfare Officer)
Date:
One copy of this completed Checklist to be retained by school and one copy is to be
forwarded to the Education Welfare Service Missing Child File at County Hall. Please
indicate below any known concerns about the child or family so that, if necessary,
further enquiries can be made with other LEAs and agencies.
Once the child has been absent for at least four weeks and school and County Hall have a copy of
the completed checklist, the child may then be removed from roll In accordance with the Education
(Pupil Registration) Regulations 1995. The school should also place the child’s name on the National
Lost Pupils’ Database, which is a repository for the Common Transfer File.
Please include here any known concerns about the child or family:
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APPENDIX D
Common Transfer File Requirement
There is a statutory requirement to send specified information about a child / young
person to a receiving school when they are moving school.
Since June 2002 this information has been transferred through the electronic common
transfer file (CTF). Detailed guidance on compiling and sending the CTF, including use
of the TeacherNet website is available at www.teachernet.gov.uk/s2s in the Information
Management Strategy section. This information must be sent within 15 school days of
the pupil ceasing to be registered at the old school, unless the new school is not known.
In this case, a transfer file using XXXXXXX as the destination should be created and
uploaded onto the secure site. If a request is made from the pupil’s new school, it
should be sent within 15 school days.
Where both the old and new school have the necessary facilities the CTF must be sent
to the new school either:

through the secure file transfer on the TeacherNet website at
www.teachernet.gov.uk/s2s

as an e-mail attachment or file over a secure network that links schools within the
Local Authority or within a regional broadband consortium.
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CME Policy Document Version 1 (06/02/08)