Fines for school absences are on the rise

Children are being taken out of school to go on family holidays

THE number of parents in the Hinckley area being fined over their children’s absence from school has increased by almost a quarter.

A total of 1,720 fines were issued in 2018/2019, raising revenue of £81,480, with 101 of the cases taken to court.

This compares with 1,379 fines for 2017/2018, when £61,440 was raised and 121 of the cases ended up in court.

The figures come from the Department of Education (DfE).

Parents have a legal duty to make sure their child attends school, and if they don’t they can be issued with what is known as a “fixed penalty notice”.

This is a £60 fine that must be paid within 21 days, otherwise the amount increases to £120.

If still unpaid after 28 days, the parents can be taken to court.

Government figures show that 333,388 such fines were handed out to parents in England in 2018/19.

That’s up from 260,877 fines the year before, and just 149,321 in 2016/17.

In total, schools in England collected an estimated £16,240,200 in fines last year and 21,756 parents were taken to court for non-payment.

If taken to court, parents can face fines of up to £2,500 or a three-month prison sentence.

Most of these parents are being fined because they have taken their child on an unauthorised family holiday during term time.

The rules on term-time holidays were changed in September 2013, meaning headteachers could no longer grant up to 10 days holiday in special circumstances. Instead they can only grant term-time leave in exceptional circumstances.

In recent years, a father was fined after taking his daughter on holiday to Florida during term time and challenged the case in the courts.

In 2017, he lost the case in the Supreme Court, and the DfE has said this judgment is part of why the number of fines being handed out has been rising since.

There were 288,239 fines handed out across England for unauthorised holidays in 2018/19, compared to 43,985 for unauthorised absence due to other circumstances, 1,164 for arriving late.

Holidays during the school break can be so expensive that often it’s still cheaper to go during term time, even with a £60 fine.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) union has said that this is the issue the Government should be focusing on to combat unauthorised school absences.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT, said: “It is important that children miss as little time at school as possible.

“The cumulative effect of missed days can be harmful to children’s education. The best way to ensure children are learning and progressing is for them to attend school during term time. and

“This means that requests for time off during term time can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances, which does not normally include holidays.

“The real problem is holiday pricing. Neither parents nor schools set the prices of holidays. They will both continue to be caught between a rock and hard place without some sensible Government intervention.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Tackling persistent absence is a priority for the Government and it is encouraging to see a decrease in persistent and overall absence compared to the previous year.

“Local authorities now have greater clarity on when they can issue fines to parents who take their children out of school without good reason - and this is reflected in the increase.”

During the current pandemic, schools remain open only for children of workers critical to the COVID-19 response and for vulnerable children, and the DfE have asked other parents to be responsible and keep their children at home.

Those pupils not currently in school due to closures will not be counted as absent authorised or unauthorised and no parent will be penalised for any Covid-19 related absence.

Schools have a temporary attendance recording system in place for vulnerable children and children of critical workers attending schools.