Review of school attendance monitoring guidance
Southport Inquiry · The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · Issued 13 April 2026 · Addressed to: Department for Education
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
The Department for Education should undertake a targeted review, engaging with a representative sample of local authorities, to check both that the current (improved) guidance is now sufficient and understood and that the system for monitoring school attendance is being followed in practice and meets the need in cross border cases.
Southport Inquiry, The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · 13 Apr 2026 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
How was this evidence gathered?
Response — verbatim from government
●Department for Education
The Department for Education is the lead department and expects to complete the implementation of this recommendation by late 2026. Progress and next steps:
- Regional workshops with local authorities across England are planned for September 2026.
- These workshops will test understanding of guidance on attendance monitoring and cross-border issues.
- Understanding of this guidance will also be tested with local authority attendance officers through their representative body.
Department for Education · 2 Jul 2026 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 2 Jul 2026 · Department for Education Government response published 2 July 2026 (CP 1623). The government accepted this recommendation; the lead department reports implementation is in progress. Source →
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.