Parents pay £180,000 in fines over truant kids
MORE than £180,000 worth of fines have been issued to parents of children who are regularly not attending school in Rhondda Cynon Taf over the past three years.
Council figures show that £181,915 was generated from fixed penalty notices issued since a scheme to try to deter regular pupil absences started in RCT in January 2015.
In 2014/2015 the council made £8,280 which rocketed to £92,700 in 2015/2016 then dropped to £32,655 in 2016/2017 before rising again to £48,280 in 2017/2018.
The cost of the fine is £60 during the first 28 days of the notice, rising to £120 for days 29 to 42 of the notice but the council insists this is not an income raising scheme but designed to discourage absences.
In 2013, the Welsh Government introduced the Education (Penalty Notice) (Wales) Regulations which allow fines to be issued to parents for regular unauthorised absence by their children and in September 2014, Rhondda Cynon Taf’s Code of Conduct for Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) for Non-Attendance at School began.
However, the council did not start operating the scheme until January 2015 so that it could let people know about it first.
The council also agreed to have a “zero tolerance” approach to taking holidays in term time but with some exceptional circumstances for children of armed forces personnel, children or parents experiencing a life-limiting illness or families who have suffered an acute trauma.
Fines can be issued in the following circumstances:
■ Where there is a minimum of five school days in the current term (these do not need to be consecutive) where a pupil is absent;
■ Pupils are persistently arriving after the close of the registration period ie more than 10 sessions in the current term ( it is recommended that registers are kept open for 30 minutes);
■ Where parent/carers have failed to engage with the school in attempts to improve attendance but where court sanctions have not been instigated;
■ A period of absence from school due to a holiday that was not authorised by school; and,
■ A pupil has regularly come to the attention of the police during school hours and is absent from school without an acceptable reason.
A total of 3,345 fines have been issued since the start of the scheme in January 2015 of which 1,623 were issued to parents of primary school pupils, 1,710 to parents of secondary school pupils and 12 to parents of special school and Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) pupils.
Of the total fines issued, 2,389 (71%) were paid and subsequently closed.
Parents of primary school pupils paid 1,222 fines, whilse those of secondary school pupils paid 1,162.
Special school and PRU pupils’ parents paid five fines.
There were 299 court cases initiated against parents because of a lack of payment and of these, 298 were successful prosecutions with only one unsuccessful case.
Of the 298 successful prosecutions, 122 were of parents of primary pupils, 173 were parents of secondary pupils and three were parents of special/PRU pupils.
In terms of withdrawals, 416 issued fines were withdrawn prior to them being paid.
Reasons included medical evidence being provided and information stating the impact of the fine would have a significant detrimental effect.
A total of 161 withdrawals were made for fines issued to primary pupils’ parents, 251 to secondary pupils’ parents and four to parents of special school and PRU pupils.
The council’s children and young people scrutiny committee is set to consider the report’s findings at its next meeting.