Rise in familes fined for kids missing school
THERE has been a huge rise in the number of families who are being fined because their children are missing school – with the biggest increase taking place in Rochdale.
Parents across Greater Manchester were issued more than 15,000 penalty notices, paying out almost £700,000.
It follows a crackdown on term-time holidays brought in three years ago.
The rules were changed in September 2013, meaning headteachers could no longer grant up to 10 days’ holiday in special circumstances. Instead they could only grant term-time leave in exceptional circumstances.
In 2012/13, before the new rules were introduced, 6,121 penalty notices for absence were issued across the region.
But the most recent figures, for the 2014/15 school year, show the figure was 15,400 – 2.5 times higher - with parents paying out £654,960.
The biggest increase in fines was in Rochdale, where the number increased from 376 before the term-time holiday ban to 1,816 in 2014/15, costing mums and dads £88,140. In Manchester there was an increase from 1,234 to 3,435, costing parents £157,260.
The figures from the Department for Education show that parts of the region were among the most likely to fine parents for their children missing school.
Salford, with 2,112 fines, and Oldham, with 2,566 fines, issued the equivalent of one for every 16 primary and secondary pupils, while it was one in 18 for Rochdale.
Across Greater Manchester, there were 2,207 prosecutions of parents for failing to pay the fine in 2014/15, up from 1,196 prosecutions in 2012/13.
Next week, one parent’s viral campaign for schools to be allowed to authorise term time holidays will be debated in Parliament after his petition reached 195,000 signatures.
Dad-of-three Dave Hedley, from Nottinghamshire, set it up after being fined for taking his children out of school for five days despite it being the only time they could get away during his wife’s cancer treatment.
Gillian Barratt, head of schools at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “In 2014 – 2015, Rochdale issued 1,584 penalty notices for unauthorised holidays in term time. This equates to one in 20 children in Rochdale. Local authorities have a duty to promote regular school attendance and fulfil their responsibility to enforce this. All money collected goes directly into promoting positive attendance at schools throughout the borough.”