Attendance Fine Features

The Attendance Fines feature in Arbor allows schools to efficiently manage and track fines related to unauthorised student absences. This tool supports schools in adhering to DfE guidelines by providing a clear process for identifying students who meet the criteria for fines and managing the associated records. 

This feature is designed to streamline the workflow for attendance officers and school administrators responsible for following up on absences and can be found on the Students > Attendance > Absentees > Attendance Fines page.

This guide is a part of a series of three. The guides in this series are:

• Attendance Fine Features
• Issuing and Waiving Attendance Fines
• Reporting on Attendance Fines

Permissions

• Users need the Student Profile: Attendance: Administer All Students permissions to access the attendance fines feature

If you don't have the relevant permission, ask your admin team to give you permission using these instructions.

Main features

The Students > Attendance > Absentees > Attendance Fines page has the following unique features:

• Automated Identification: The system shows students absent for 5 days (10 sessions) in a rolling 10-week period based on the "Good school week" calculation.
  • A good school week meets the minimum school hours defined in this DfE guidance (32.5 hours per week for most year groups). School closures or public holidays that reduce hours below this are not considered good weeks.
• Fine Issuance Tracking: Arbor records when a fine is issued to a student and links it to specific absences to avoid duplicate fines.
• Fine Waiving: The system allows schools to note when a fine is not issued, including reasons.
• Fine Limit Tracking: Arbor tracks fines issued to each student, ensuring compliance with the limit of two fines in three years. A validation error will occur if you attempt to issue a third fine within three years.
  
  

Fine Statuses

Absence periods that may incur a fine can have three statuses:

• Pending - A fine is identified, but no decision is made. All absence periods start here.
• Issued - A fine has been issued to a student. Up to 2 fines can have this status in 3 years.
• Waived - No fine will be issued for this absence. There is no limit on the number of waived fines.

Chronologically, fine statuses work in the following way:

• First Fine: A new attendance fine is set to Pending and can be changed to Waived or Issued.
• Second Fine: A second fine within three years also sets to Pending and can be Waived or Issued.
• Subsequent Fines (After Two Issued): After two fines, further fines are set to Pending and can only be Waived.

Attendance Fine Rules

When using the Attendance Fines feature, please note the following business rules:

• Pending Status: When a student's unauthorised absences reach 5 days (10 sessions) within the 10-week period, their record will initially appear on the Attendance Fines page with a Pending status.
• Issuing or Waiving Fines: Schools have the discretion to either issue a fine or waive it. This action can be recorded within Arbor.
• Fine Limit: A student can receive a maximum of two fines within a three-year period.
• Fine Limit Reached: If a student exceeds the fine limit, subsequent absences that meet the criteria will be set to pending and can only be Waived. Attempting to issue a third fine will result in a warning notifying you that the limit has been reached.
• Communication with Guardians: Arbor does not automate communication with guardians regarding fines. Schools must coordinate with their Local Authority (LA) for the official fining process and communication. 

To see how to use the Attendance Fines page, please refer to the second guide in this series: Issuing and Waiving Attendance Fines