Hampshire’s Legal Intervention Team (LIT)

Background

Hampshire County Council, through its Legal Intervention Team (LIT), carries out its responsibility to act on behalf of its schools. (Education Act 1996. Section 443: failure to comply with school attendance order and Section 444: failure to secure regular attendance at school of registered pupil)

The County Council’s Legal Intervention Team (LIT) will also process Education Supervision Orders. (Section 447 Education Act 1996; and School attendance orders – Section 437 Education Act 1996 and Parenting Orders if ordered by the count - under Section 8 of the Crime & Disorder Act 1998.)

Principal aims

The LIT process ensures families are offered support prior to legal action being taken, where this is appropriate. Supporting children and families to re-engage with education in the first instance would be the primary consideration.

The LIT will decide when it is appropriate to pursue legal action following referrals from schools, ensuring evidence provided is robust and unambiguous enough to be presented in court.

The Referral Process

Schools are asked to submit referrals to the LIT via the Children’s Reception Team (CRT) at [email protected] CRT will triage and check for wider safeguarding concerns alongside the attendance issue. Referrals will then be forwarded to each of the area teams. Assistant Team Managers will allocate families to Attendance Intervention Officers (AIOs). AIO’s will process referrals as directed and this may involve intervention with families or the processing of legal sanctions.

The Referral

Schools must complete an:

LIT Referral