Freedom of information request reveals parents in England and Wales fined an estimated £5.6m in last academic year

As many as 90,000 parents were fined an estimated total of £5.6m in the last full academic year for taking their children on holiday during term-time, according to research.

Lancashire county council issued the highest number of financial penalties – 4,279 – in the 2014-15 school year, according to Santander bank, which received responses from 129 of the 174 local authorities responsible for education in England and Wales following a freedom of information (FoI) request.

The bank found parents were issued with an estimated £5.6m-worth of fines for unauthorised holiday absences – up from an estimated £1.5m issued in 2012-13, representing a 267% increase.



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In 2013, the Department for Education (DfE) tightened up the rules, decreeing that headteachers could authorise absences during term-time only in “exceptional circumstances” such as funerals. Previously, heads had discretion to grant up to two weeks of absence for pupils with good attendance records.



Santander said its findings suggested parents were becoming more willing to risk a fine and take their children out of school “to avoid the school holiday price hikes”.

A local council can issue a fine of £60, which rises to £120 if the parent does not pay within 21 days. But the current regime is in disarray after a high court ruling in May this year overturned a £120 fine imposed for an unauthorised family holiday taken during term-time.

The court ruled in favour of Jon Platt, who took his daughter out of school on the Isle of Wight last year for a family holiday to Florida during term-time that the girl’s school had refused to authorise. However, Isle of Wight council, with financial backing from the DfE, is expected to take the case to the supreme court.



Santander said the number of fines also increased over the two-year period, rising from 24,853 in 2012-13 to 92,784 in 2014-15 – an increase of 273%.



In second place after Lancashire was Doncaster council with 3,559 fines issued, with Bradford third with 3,445. Leeds city council came fourth (3,435), Derbyshire county council fifth (3,174), and West Sussex in sixth place with 2,757. The other four local authorities in the top 10 were, in order, East Riding of Yorkshire, Kirklees in West Yorkshire, East Sussex and Surrey.

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Santander – which submitted its FoI requests in April this year – said the data was not weighted by the number of schools in each local authority area, “so those appearing at the top of the table may do so wholly or in part due to a larger number of schools or pupils”.



As things stand, a parent may be prosecuted if they do not pay a fine within 28 days. If prosecuted, parents could be fined up to £2,500, receive a community order or be jailed for up to three months.



The cost of holidays can vary hugely between the weeks when children are in school and half-term and summer holidays – in some cases by more than 150%, according to a survey earlier this year by the Observer.

