Record high fines for term-time holidays

As reported by The Telegraph, over 356,000 penalty notices have been issued, a 24% increase since 2019, as parents face fines and prosecution for taking unauthorised family holidays during the school term

Department for Education figures show that 356,181 penalty notices were issued for unauthorised family holiday absence in the past academic year, the highest number on record and up 24 per cent since 2019.

Parents who take children out of school during term time face a £60 fine. If it is unpaid after 22 days, the fee rises to £120. If the fine is still not paid, the parent can be prosecuted.

Headteachers have the power to fine families for unauthorised absences from school by referring parents to the local authority which will issue a fixed penalty notice on their behalf.

There is no right of appeal against a fixed penalty notice.

The figures come after a study of parents’ attitudes towards school attendance earlier this year found that term-time holidays are “entirely socially acceptable” after Covid.

Almost all parents whose children had missed school in eight focus groups said they were taking term-time holidays, in a “radical shift” in attitudes since the pandemic and teachers’ strikes. Each group had between four and eight participants in the study conducted by Public First.

The willingness to go on holiday during term time was evidenced across all socioeconomic groups, with many parents arguing that the cost differences “made the option impossible to ignore”.

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, has warned that the “social contract” between parents and schools has broken down since Covid lockdowns.

Responding to the latest Government figures, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “It is difficult to say exactly why there are a lot of unauthorised term-time holidays. It could reflect a shift in attitudes to schooling among some parents who see attendance as flexible when of course this is not the case at all. Or it could reflect parents wanting to take advantage of off-peak holiday prices because of the rising cost of living. Or perhaps a mixture of these factors.

“Whatever the case, nobody in education wants to be in a position of fining parents. However, it is just not manageable to have families taking holidays in term time. It is not only the impact on the education of the young people concerned but the workload on teachers who then have to help them catch up. Pupils need to be in school in term time.”

In further evidence of behaviour changes since the pandemic, Government figures published on Thursday showed the number of pupils cheating in GCSE and A Levels reached a record high this year.

The number of penalties for malpractice given to GCSE and A-level pupils in England was 4,920 in 2023, up from 4,135 last year, and 2,965 in 2019.

Department for Education figures show that 43 per cent of incidents involved pupils bringing mobile phones into exam halls, the same proportion as last year. Other reasons included disruptive behaviour and plagiarism. More than 2,000 pupils lost marks because of their misconduct.

Around 1,000 were unable to receive an exam grade, while the remainder received a warning.