The Federal Government has pressed on with its truancy program in the Northern Territory, but criticism continues too for the scheme that suspends welfare payments for parents of non-attending children.

Some authorities say imposing fines or a suspension of welfare will not help parents get their kids to school.

A Federal Government policy which started last year has seen dozens of truancy officers working one-on-one with families across NT to help improve school attendance.

The officers pick up kids, talk to families and schools about the issues, and they have been responsible for a four per cent increase in school attendance on the last few months.

But one part of the scheme - where parents’ payments are suspended for up to 13 weeks if their children miss too much school – has been criticised for taking too much from often impoverished families.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet says its figures show 65 payments were blocked between May and December last year, but a spokesperson said family finances were considered before a suspension.

The Department is evaluating the program, which has cost $25 million since it started and has another $10 million slated for 2014-2015, but its appraisal is not due for several months.

In the meantime Karan Hayward, the chief executive officer of the Aboriginal corporation Papulu Apparr-Kari, says the rules of the program hit some families unfairly.

“I think the Government's working in the right direction - I'm not sure if everything's right but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel,” Ms Hayward told the ABC.

“It's a lot harder to get a child up at 7:00am to four-degree weather and there's no hot water or anything in the house and no warm clothes.”

Ms Hayward is in charge of 35 truancy officers tasked with getting 1,000 children across thousands of kilometres near Tennant Creek to school every day.

She says sometimes disparate and unconventional family arrangements could be better catered-for.

“A grandmother will tell us that they've been fined several times and there's nothing they can do about it... they try their best, but the kids are just not listening. They probably can't afford to have their money taken off them because they're feeding all the kids whose real parents are not on the scene,” she said.

“For them to get a fine, and even though it might be paying it off at $5 a week, it's still $5 - that's a tin of food, it's going to hurt.”