Truancy sweeps

Kent County Council's Attendance and Behaviour Service liaise with the local Superintendent of Police to hold discussions about areas of concern. The LA representative then liaises with relevant local schools and agencies.

You can download a copy of the Kent truancy sweep flowchart by activating the following link.

Kent truancy sweep flowchart

Police Power to remove truants

• This power enables a police officer to take truants back to school or other place designated by the Local Authority. It is not a power of arrest or detention nor does it make truancy a criminal offence.
• In May 1998 the Social Exclusion Unit published its report on Truancy and School Exclusion. The report set out a package of measures to tackle these problems with the aim of achieving a one third reduction in the level of truancy and the number of exclusions by the year 2002. One of these measures was a new power for the police to pick up truants, incorporated in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
• The power came into effect on 1 December 1998. It empowers a police officer to take a child or young person whom he or she has reasonable cause to believe is of compulsory school age and absent from school without lawful authority, back to school or other place designated by the Local Authority. The new provision will only extend to England and Wales.
• The new power can be used once the local education authority has designated a place or places for the purpose of the new provision and has notified the chief constable for the area. The power will only be exercisable with the authority of a police officer of superintendent rank or above. It will also be for that officer to authorise the area in which and the period during which truants may be picked up. In coming to that judgement he or she will take account of the results of discussions with schools and the Local Authority.
• The power is to be exercised on the basis that the police have reasonable cause to believe that the child is of compulsory school age and is absent from school without lawful authority. The power does not apply to those children who are lawfully educated outside of the school system - e.g. home tuition, education otherwise. The power only applies to children who have been excluded from school if alternative educational provision has been made for them and they are absent from it without lawful authority.
• The new power is not one of arrest nor does it make truancy a criminal offence. The idea is that it should be used in support of local multi-agency efforts to tackle truancy in which the police, schools and local authorities identify and discuss local problems, and set up strategies to tackle them.