General information about England, not legal or medical advice. If your child's health worries you, talk to your GP. For the law on special educational needs, talk to IPSEA or your local SENDIASS.
What "EBSA" means
Emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA), also called school anxiety or school refusal, is the term educational psychologists, councils and NHS services use when anxiety or other negative feelings make school hard to attend (EBSA questions and answers, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust). It can look like a child who drags out getting dressed, refuses to leave the house, shows real distress, or can't go in at all.
"EBSA isn't a diagnosis," an educational psychologist wrote in The Psychologist, the British Psychological Society's magazine, in November 2024. Nor is it a legal category: the government's attendance guidance talks about ill health, mental and physical, and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The NHS trust adds that EBSA can arise from SEND, diagnosed or not, and support doesn't wait on a diagnosis.
What the school and council should do first
The Department for Education's Working together to improve school attendance has been statutory guidance since 19 August 2024, so schools, academy trusts and councils must have regard to it. Paragraph numbers here are from the July 2026 edition.
Schools should listen to and understand the barriers your child faces, rather than "reaching immediately for punitive approaches" (paragraph 16), and at the least meet you and your child, agree actions and review them with you (17). As absence grows, so should the support, which can include an education, health and care (EHC) plan, alternative provision, or a voluntary early help assessment for the whole family (18). If a service has a waiting list, the school or council should look for other help meanwhile (20).
Staff aren't expected to diagnose or treat ill health or SEND, but they should put pastoral support in place, adjust their own practice and, for a disabled pupil, make formal reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010, agreed and reviewed with you. They should also consider a time-limited phased return, look at barriers such as uniform, transport and lunchtimes, and refer on to school nursing, mental health support teams or the GP (paragraphs 56 to 61).
The school may also point you to paragraph 54: children with "normal but difficult emotions" about friendships, schoolwork or exams are still expected to attend, and a long absence can make anxiety about going back worse. The DfE's non-statutory guidance on mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance gives examples of what helps, like a trusted adult who checks in, or a quiet space at break.
Part-time timetables
In very exceptional circumstances, and in your child's best interests, a school can agree a temporary part-time timetable, for example when a medical condition stops a pupil attending full-time (paragraph 66). It needs your agreement, mustn't be used to manage behaviour, and should sit within a wider support or reintegration plan, with a proposed end date and regular reviews that include you and your child, though a review can extend it (67). Missed sessions are recorded as authorised (code C2).
If your child may have special educational needs
You can ask the council for an EHC needs assessment yourself (section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014), and if it decides to make a plan, it has 20 weeks from your request to issue the final one (GOV.UK). If your child already has a plan, the school should tell the council when attendance falls (paragraph 61). Home education and SEND explains what happens to a plan if you home educate, and why EOTAS, education the council arranges outside school, isn't home education.
Absence codes, letters and fines
These four register codes, given to each morning and afternoon session, matter most here.
| Code | What it records | Counted as |
|---|---|---|
| I | Illness, physical or mental | Authorised |
| C2 | Absence agreed under a part-time timetable | Authorised |
| N | Reason not yet known; must be replaced within 5 school days | Holding code |
| O | No reason given, or the school isn't satisfied with it | Unauthorised |
Tell the school on the first day your child is too ill to go in. Your word is usually enough: schools shouldn't routinely ask for medical evidence, and where there's genuine doubt, or a child is often or long ill, they may ask but should accept what's available, such as prescriptions or appointment letters (paragraphs 373 to 375).
Fines and prosecution
Penalty notices are only for unauthorised absence (paragraph 179). A school must consider one when a pupil reaches 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling 10 school weeks (184), but considering isn't issuing: it has to ask whether support is appropriate, whether a fine is the best tool, and what the Equality Act requires, for example for a disabled pupil (185). Where support hasn't worked, a notice to improve, giving 3 to 6 weeks, usually comes first (189 and 191).
A first penalty notice is £160, or £80 if paid within 21 days. A second for the same child within three years is £160, and there can't be a third in that time; other action follows instead, often considering prosecution (paragraph 194).
Prosecution under section 444 of the Education Act 1996 is "the last resort" (paragraph 164). The more serious offence can bring a fine of up to £2,500, a community order or up to three months in prison (165), and it's a defence to prove your child was prevented from attending by sickness or another unavoidable cause.
If letters start arriving
- Ask how each absence has been coded, and if you reported illness and see code O, ask why.
- Reply in writing: what support you've asked for, and what's been offered.
- Ask for a meeting, and for its plan in writing, with a review date.
- If your child has, or may have, SEND, say so each time, and get advice from SENDIASS or IPSEA before any formal meeting.
When your child can't attend because of health needs
Under section 19 of the Education Act 1996, the council must arrange suitable education for children who, because of illness or otherwise, wouldn't get one without it, mental health as much as physical. The DfE's statutory guidance, Arranging education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs, says:
- there's no absolute legal deadline, but once it's clear your child will miss 15 days or more through ill health, in one go or across the school year, the council should arrange provision, starting by the sixth day of absence at the latest;
- it should be full-time, unless that isn't in your child's best interests for health reasons, and then part-time and built up as health allows;
- councils mustn't keep lists of conditions that decide who gets education, or keep demanding medical evidence without good reason.
Your child normally stays on the school's roll while the council and school plan their return. Unlike home education, the council arranges and pays for this, so ask the school, or the council's named officer for these children, early.
Choosing home education from here
The DfE's guidance for parents lists "the child's unwillingness or inability to go to school" and health, "particularly mental health", among the reasons families home educate (paragraph 3.2), but where attendance is the problem, it suggests trying other steps first and asking the council about alternatives (3.3 and 3.5). Home education turns out right for some families; for others, a new school, a health-needs placement or an EHC plan does more.
It has to be your decision. Schools shouldn't persuade parents to home educate because of a child's poor attendance record (DfE guidance for councils, paragraph 10.5), and if you feel pushed, our SEND article explains off-rolling and what to do.
What deregistering changes
From a mainstream school, you write to the school, and your child comes off the roll once the date in your letter has passed (attendance guidance, paragraph 245); How to deregister your child from school has the steps and a sample letter. The rules differ for a council-arranged special school place, or if there's a school attendance order.
Until your child is off the roll, you're at risk of prosecution for non-attendance even if you're already educating them at home (guidance for councils, 4.6). Section 444's offences are about a registered pupil who fails to attend, so they don't reach the days after your child's name comes off. Absences before that stay on the record, and if a penalty notice or prosecution is already under way, get advice before assuming deregistering ends it.
From then on, the education is your responsibility and your cost (guidance for parents, 3.6). A gentle start is fine, but there's no legal pause, as the first weeks of home education explains.
A consent rule not yet in force
The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 adds a section 434A to the 1996 Act. Once it's in force, you'll need the council's consent to deregister in two situations. One is a council-arranged place at a special school, or at an independent school organised for pupils with SEN. The other is where the council is making child protection enquiries about your child, or is taking, or in the last five years has taken, protective action after them. The council must refuse if it thinks school is in your child's best interests, or if suitable arrangements for their education haven't been made. On 30 October 2026, legislation.gov.uk showed the section in force only for making regulations, with no commencement regulations yet for the rest.
Middle routes, and going back
Flexi-schooling keeps your child on roll for part of the week, if the head agrees. Nor is deregistering final: returning to school after home education explains how to apply for a place later. If your child is autistic, see home educating an autistic child.
Keep a record of what's happening
Whichever way this goes, a plain log helps in meetings and with letters.
- Each day missed or cut short: the date, what happened, and what you told the school.
- Every meeting: who was there, what was agreed, and the review date.
- Every letter and email, sent and received, in date order.
- Health appointments, referrals and waiting-list letters.
- What helps and what doesn't, in your child's words if they'll give them.
Once you're home educating, home education records takes over from this list.
Advice, helplines and urgent help
For SEN and school, your local SENDIASS gives parents free, impartial and confidential advice. Every council must arrange one, at arm's length from the council (SEND Code of Practice, paragraphs 2.1, 2.5 and 2.8), and your council's Local Offer has the contact details. IPSEA, a charity for SEND law in England, runs free, independent helplines giving legal information and advice.
For your child's mental health, you can speak to your GP with or on behalf of your child, the NHS says, and either a GP or you, as parent or carer, can refer them to children and young people's mental health services (often called CAMHS). The YoungMinds Parents Helpline is free and confidential, for parents and carers across the UK worried about the mental health of a child or young person aged 25 or under, though it isn't a crisis service.
In an emergency, use 111 online, or call 111 and choose the mental health option (urgent help for mental health on the NHS website). If someone's life is at risk, call 999 or go to A&E.