Massive drop in fines for holidays in term
Authority curbs penalty notices after court case
THE NUMBER of parents being fined for taking their children on term-time holidays has plummeted in Yorkshire this summer with one of the largest education authorities relaxing its policy as a result of a landmark court case.
Figures from North Yorkshire, Sheffield, Doncaster and Kirklees show massive drops in the fines being issued between May and July this year compared with 12 months ago.
In Sheffield, the level of fines has dropped from 900 in June last year to three this year and North Yorkshire County Council said it had suspended issuing fines unless pupils were missing more than 10 per cent of lessons.
Despite this drop, there have still been more than 37,000 £60 fines issued since 2013 worth more than £2m.
Campaigner Jon Platt won a High Court case earlier this year after refusing to pay a fine for taking his daughter to Florida during the school term. The Government toughened its stance three years ago and said schools should only approve absences in exceptional circumstances. This has led to the number of parents being fined for term time holidays rocketing in recent years.
However, Mr Platt, from the Isle of Wight, refused to pay his fine and when he was taken to court successfully argued that he had not committed an offence because his child had still attended school regularly despite the holiday. The High Court backed this decision, but the council is now appealing to the Supreme Court.
He has since submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to councils across the UK to see how many fines are being issued.
They reveal massive drops in the number of fines issued during the summer in several areas of Yorkshire. In Sheffield, the council issued 900 fines in June 2015. But, according to figures from the authority, this year it issued just three – a drop of more than 99 per cent. In Doncaster, the fines issued dropped from 616 in July last year to 61 and in Kirklees it more than halved from 326 to 145.
In June and July last year, North Yorkshire County Council issued 258 fines but this year it dropped to 29. The council told The Yorkshire Post that it had suspended the issuing of penalty notices for unauthorised absence “if a child’s school attendance is 90 per cent and above” in the previous six months as a result of the court case.
“This marks a change in our position,” said Pete Dwyer, the council’s corporate director for the children and young people’s
On its own an unauthorised absence is not a criminal offence. Campaigner Jon Platt
service. “Previously we followed Government guidance which stated that term-time absence could only be authorised in exceptional circumstances, which did not include holidays.”
Mr Platt said: “Government guidelines in 2013 changed the burden on headteachers who could no longer approve absences apart from in exceptional circumstances. But they did not change the burden on parents. Taking a child on an unauthorised absence is not a criminal offence – failing to make sure your child attends regularly is.”
SCHOOL FINES campaigner Jon Platt is urging the Government to rethink its position on fines being issued for unauthorised absences.
He said he has contacted the new Education Secretary Justine Greening since his High Court victory and her appointment. But after Mr Platt’s legal victory in May, which is to be challenged in the Supreme Court, Schools Minister Nick Gibb wrote to schools saying: “The High Court’s judgment did not establish a hard and fast rule that a pupil’s attendance above 90 per cent is regarded as ‘regular’ attendance.
“Instead, a decision will have to depend on the individual facts of each case.”
He added: “We understand some parents who have already been given penalty notices and have paid the penalty are asking local authorities to withdraw the notices.
“But the view of the Department is that the decision in the Isle of Wight case does not require local authorities to do this, and I would expect applications of this kind to be refused in the ordinary course of events.”
The Government has previously relied on research which is said to have demonstrated that “every day of school” being missed could be directly linked to a lower chance of a child achieving five good GCSEs including English and maths.