Court backs pupils’ breaks during term
A FATHER yesterday won a court victory allowing him to take his daughter out of school during term time.
Judges ruled in favour of the man who had been fined by his local council for taking her on holiday during the school term.
The decision is a major blow to the Westminster government’s new drive to crack down on term time holidays.
Parents have complained the tougher stance is being exploited by holiday companies, which raise prices during the summer holidays.
Judges said yesterday that parents taking children out of school for a week’s holiday were not breaking the law if they could prove attendance over the year was ‘regular’.
The judgement is likely to open the floodgates for more parents to risk taking their children out of classes.
Yesterday’s test case centred on Jon Platt, 45, who was fined £120 by Isle of Wight Council for taking his sevenyear-old to Disney World in Florida without her school’s permission.
The trip, in April 2015, made her miss seven days of lessons at Bembridge Primary School.
But the businessman claimed he should not be punished because her attendance record was otherwise exemplary, averaging 92 per cent across the entire school year.
Mr Platt, who runs a PPI claims company, refused to pay the fine and magistrates sided with him in October. But the local authority appealed against the decision at the High Court in London.
Yesterday, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mrs Justice Thirlwall dismissed the council’s challenge, ruling that the magistrates had not ‘erred in law’ when reaching their decision.
The council was ordered to pay his £14,631 High Court costs.
After the ruling, Mr Platt said outside court: ‘I’m hugely relieved. There’s hundreds of other parents in cases in magistrates’ court hinging on this case.’
In Scotland, parents can also face jail for taking their children out of school during term-time, although no cases of this happening are known.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘It is important that schools and parents continue to do all they can to ensure good attendance. Parents and children are encouraged to recognise the pitfalls of disrupting learning
‘Schools will not normally give a family permission to take pupils out of school for holidays during term-time.
‘It is up to education authorities to decide what sanctions they will use if there is an unauthorised absence.’