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19th August 2024
01:58pm BST
Going on holiday when you have children is a nightmare. You are restricted to school holidays and companies hike up the price making it difficult for some families to treat their children to a nice family holiday.
Many opt to take their children out of school to avoid the price hike but risk a fine for doing so.
During 2022-23, nearly 400,000 penalty notices were issued in England for unauthorised absences which is much higher than pre-pandemic levels and as a result fines are set to increase to tackle the issue.
The Department of Education revealed plans in February to consider fines for unauthorised absence for parents whose children miss five days of school.
School absence fines have increased from £60 to £80 which will rise to £160 if not paid within 21 days.
If the same parent is fined again within a three-year period, the fine stands at £160 from the start.
A third penalty notice cannot be issued, alternative action such as prosecution would be considered during this time.
89.3 per cent of the 400,000 fines issued were for unauthorised holidays as families looked for cheaper trips away.
Guidance from the Department for Education says schools and local authorities should take a support-first approach to help pupils and their families tackle barriers to attendance.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT said when the plans were announced: "A consistent national framework for fines makes sense. Currently there is significant variation between how and when local authorities issue fines to parents.”
However, he said there were more important issues that the DfE should be focusing on.
"Parents will likely be surprised that at a time when schools are struggling to find enough teachers to teach classes, when buildings are crumbling, and when we are in the middle of a crisis in special needs provision, that the government is choosing to focus on increasing fines for parents.
"Good attendance is obviously critically important, but fines have long proven to be too blunt a tool and largely ineffective at improving persistent absence."
Meanwhile, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said these fines ‘predominately relate to pupils who are taken out of school for term-time holidays’ and that if ‘everybody did this it would be chaos.’
