Posted on Friday, 22 March 2019

The number of penalties handed out to parents in England for taking children on holiday during term time have nearly doubled in the 2017-18 period.

There were nearly 223,000 penalty notices, an increase of 93% on the previous 12 months.

According to the Department for Education (DfE), the most common reason for issuing attendance fines was "unauthorised family holiday absence."

Local authorities have the power to fine parents £60 for each child taken out of school without prior consent.

If not paid within 21 days, the fine is doubled. If the penalty remains unsettled for 28 days, local authorities can begin court proceedings against the parents.

260,877 fines were issued in England for unauthorised school absences in the 2017-18 period.

Around 10% of these were eventually withdrawn.

There was also a significant rise in the number of prosecutions in England during the 2017-18 period: 19,518 in total - up from 13,324 the year before.

Jon Platt, who was fined for taking his daughter on holiday during term time said he "felt partly responsible" for the increase in fines.

Mr Platt took his case to the Supreme Court in 2017, where he lost. Since then, he says, the rules have become "harsher and stricter".

Mr Platt said: "There is clarity [on the law] but it's a draconian clarity. It's disappointing to see that where there were tens of thousands of parents being fined, it's now hundreds of thousands.

"I would very much like the government to look at this again, but I don't think they will."

According to the DFE, the Supreme Court findings in the case "had an effect on the number of penalty notices issued in 2017-18, either as a result of returning to pre-court case levels following a slowdown or from a change in behaviour as a result of the ruling."

Mr Platt has since taken his children out of state schools and into private education, where such fines cannot be levied by councils.

Head of the Campaign for Real Education, retired head teacher Chris McGovern, said term time breaks were mostly "for the benefit of the parents, rather than the children".

He said disrupting a child's education for a low cost holiday was a "remarkably selfish action".

He said such behaviour also disrupted the rest of the class, and put extra pressure on teachers who had to find time to help absent pupils catch up.

Some parents, however, remain undeterred, since the fines are in many cases minor compared to the savings made on holidays booked during term time.

Jane Lynch from Margate told the BBC that holiday "prices double" after the term ends.

However, the 37-year-old pointed out that she never takes her children on holiday during term time.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland parents are similarly not permitted to take children out of school, but there are no fines.

In Wales, schools can allow up to 10 days' term-time holiday for pupils.

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