Fines if kids skip school
PARENTS could face fines of up to £2,500 if they do not send kids back to school in September.
No10 said returning next term will be “compulsory”, despite fears Covid-19 may still be raging.
But unions claim it has not yet revealed how schools will be made safe. NASUWT chief Patrick Roach said: “Ministers should think carefully before issuing warnings to parents when the Government has not yet explained how it plans to reopen schools safely.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer accused Boris Johnson of a “lack of planning” for schools return.
He said: “From the day schools were shut, it was obvious what needed to happen to get them back open again. The Government fell asleep at the wheel.”
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson raised the prospect of fines yesterday. He said: “We do have to get back into compulsory education. We will be looking at imposing fines on families if they are not sending children back.”
Parent who refuse could be fined £60, rising to £120. If they fail to pay and are prosecuted the penalty soars to a maximum £2,500 and three months in jail.
WINNING the confidence of parents and the trust of teachers will get pupils back to schools, so fines must be a last resort.
Threatening now to take families to court is not the best way forward when the Government failed to resume the education of hundreds of thousands of kids in England earlier in the pandemic – sweeping statements by ministers exposed as hollow promises.
As a last resort, £60 penalties for unauthorised absences have a role to play where parents damage the education of their children.
But a government that told people to stay at home and frightened many needs to understand why some are nervous about venturing out and sending children into classrooms.
The big-stick approach of the Tories in England contrasts with the more persuasive approach of Labour-run Wales. The suspicion that talk of fines is another example of Boris Johnson’s gesture politics is not filling some with confidence that a PM ruling by soundbite has the best interests of the nation at heart.