Pupil absence: Over 2,000 parents fined nearly £150,000 in Kirklees for unauthorised holidays during school term-time since September

Between September and February half-term 2023, 2,292 parents were issued with a penalty notice for an unauthorised leave of absence for their child in a Kirklees school, resulting in a total of £147,900 being received by the authority.

This total is already higher than the £142,800 paid up by 2,490 parents for taking their child on holiday during the entire 2021-2022 academic year.

Each parent gets fined £60 for each child they take out of school for five or more consecutive days, which rises to £120 if it is not paid within 21 days. If the fine is then not paid after 28 days, parents may be prosecuted, under section 444 of the Education Act, for the offence of failing to ensure their child’s regular attendance at school.

Kirklees confirmed that 83 parents have been prosecuted due to unauthorised holidays of their children since September 2022.

The council website states that “the law was changed in 2013 and made it clear that head teachers may not grant leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances”.

It warns parents that they “should not take your children out of school during term time unless you are granted authorised leave of absence by the head teacher,” and that “if you do take your child out of school without the leave of absence being authorised, the head teacher may direct the council to take measures to issue either a penalty notice or prosecute you as parents”.

The website adds: “In certain circumstances, schools may remove the child from the register if leave of absence is taken for an unreasonable amount of time.”

Of the 2,292 parents fined already during this current academic year, 1,403 were issued to parents of children attending a Kirklees secondary school, while 889 were to parents of children in a primary school setting.

When schools began to re-open after the national lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 633 parents were fined between September 2020 and July 2021 for taking their children out of school during term-time for a holiday.