Court ruling over fines for term-time holidays

A court ruling that led a council to stop fining parents for taking their children out of school in term time is expected to be overruled by the country’s highest court today (Thursday).

Businessman Jon Platt had successfully argued in a test case that he should have been able to remove his daughter for a holiday because her attendance was more than 93%.

However, he expects to have the judgement overturned by the Supreme Court and has pre-empted the decision by taking his daughter out of the state school system. Independent schools largely have longer school holidays.

Last year’s ruling led KCC to review its policy on fines under its Education Penalty Notices Code of Conduct. It said it would continue to issue penalties for “persistent absence from school”.

A spokesman said at the time: “The new Code of Conduct came into force on January 1 2016 and a penalty notice for unauthorised absence is only issued where a child has attendance of 90% persistent absence level or below, or where there are aggravating factors such as removing a child from school over a period of examination. Kent County Council believes it is therefore operating the penalty notice system in line with the outcome of today’s High Court Appeal decision.”

For many parents, fines remain cheaper than paying peak-season prices for a family break, as holiday companies hike their prices over the summer months.

Jon Platt has led the charge against schools fining parents