172.Section 72 inserts a new offence in Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 which is committed where a parent knows that their child is failing to attend school and fails to cause him to do so without reasonable justification. The penalty for the new offence is a fine of up to £2,500, that is up to level 4 on the standard scale of offences, and/or imprisonment for three months or less.
Commentary on Sections Part IV: General and Supplementary Chapter I: General Section 72: Failure to secure regular attendance at school: increase in penalty