PILC has been acting on behalf of clinically vulnerable families to challenge the government’s policy on school attendance during Covid-19.
We have today published a briefing note outlining the government’s official position as set out in response to a pre-action letter from PILC, and explaining how this official position deviates from published guidance.
We will continue to push the government both to amend its published guidance to reflect its official position on local discretion and to change its guidance around school attendance and vulnerable family members.
In the meantime we wanted to bring the government’s official position to the attention of parents, school and local authorities so that they are clear that they are able to exercise discretion when authorising a child’s absence. This discretion can include taking into account the vulnerabilities of family members as well as other factors such as mental health or special educational needs.
We hope parents will be able to make use of this briefing note when liaising with schools and local authorities
The briefing note can be downloaded here.
