Parents who take children on holiday during term time to be fined under new scheme

Parents who take their children on their jollies during term time will face hefty fines as part of a new government scheme cracking down on truancy. 

Fixed penalty notices (FPNs) will be handed out to parents if their children are taken out of school for holidays, they are late five times in one term, they take five unauthorised absences or are out in public in the five days of an exclusion.

Parents would face a maximum of two fines for each child per school year – if that limit were reached, prosecution would then be considered.

Education Secretary Nadim Zahawi said he hopes the new scheme would ‘help tackle persistent absence’.

Didsbury CE School

He said: “I know from the Children’s Commissioner’s work on school attendance that children themselves hugely value being in school with their teachers and their friends.

“My job is to make sure that every child can get those school experiences.

“The plans set out today to reform how absence fines operate, alongside our Schools Bill currently going through parliament, will improve consistency across the country and help tackle persistent absence.”

According to the plans, Zahawi will also oversee a Whitehall database containing all school registers in a bid to improve school attendance.

Number 10 / Flickr

The scheme also suggest pupils younger than compulsory schooling age should still have their absence recorded.

Under the current law, the attendance of these particular pupils does not need to be recorded.

The Government added that pupils absent for fifteen days or more for health reasons should be reported to the local council to make sure they and their family get more support.

Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza has backed the new scheme, and called upon schools to ‘do whatever it takes’ to get attendance back up to 100% by this autumn term.