Unauthorised school absence fines set to increase as cases rise in Kent

KentOnline / KMTV

Schools are now being advised to fine parents if their child has missed at least five days of school without permission - which could be up to £80.

Transcript

00:00Missing a bit of school here or there isn't something that would usually be classed as a crime.

00:05But with unauthorised absences at an all-time high,

00:08the penalties for not being in class are about to get a little bit stricter.

00:12Until now, councils in Medway and Kent have had their own policies on when to issue fines.

00:17But to create a more uniform approach, new guidelines are putting a number on what's allowed.

00:23Schools across England are being told to consider a fine

00:26after a child has missed five days of school without the headteacher's permission.

00:31Previously, when this happened, there was a fine of £60 per parent, per child.

00:36But from September, this will increase to £80.

00:39And if parents fail to pay this within 21 days, it doubles to £160.

00:44Failure to pay a penalty at all can result in prosecution.

00:48Unauthorised absences are defined as not turning up to school without permission,

00:52being consistently late and missing formal exams.

00:56But why is school attendance so important?

00:58We spoke to headteacher David Jones to find out.

01:01There needs to be a deterrent from students being absent from school

01:06because that's the place where they're safest and their education is most secure.

01:09You know, the places that instil values and create the young people

01:13that are going to go out and be the citizens and leaders of our communities for tomorrow.

01:18Without a solid school environment, without a decent attendance,

01:22students are missing out on a lot of opportunities to establish

01:25who they are going to be as the adults they're going to be in the future.

01:29Education is built on a series of curriculums from each subject.

01:33And the curriculum is built in such a way that if you miss a portion of it,

01:36you're missing out on a section of learning that you may not return to for another academic year.

01:42According to a report from the Department of Education,

01:46in Kent and Medway alone, over 13,000 penalty notices were issued in the 2022-2023 academic year.

01:53That's a 71% increase from the year before.

01:56Of these, nearly 90% were penalties for unauthorised holiday reasons.

02:01Since 2020, the amount of absences linked to holiday has been rising steeply

02:05and has already overtaken pre-pandemic levels.

02:08So why are parents taking their children out of term time

02:11rather than during the designated school holidays?

02:14I've jumped onto Jet2 to look at holiday packages to Marbella for two adults and two children.

02:19And in the middle of September during term time, the cheapest one is coming up at £746.

02:25Now I'm going to look at the same holiday package, but in the middle of August,

02:28and it's coming up at £879.

02:31So that's a difference of £133, which easily covers that minimum fine of £80

02:36and even covers most of the higher £160 penalty as well.

02:41I had a look at other sites and the results were coming up exactly the same.

02:45Well, clearly the prices are a lot cheaper during term time

02:48and the fines don't seem to be making too much a difference to that at all.

02:52But I do still wonder if they will have an effect on parents' decisions

02:56about when they choose to go abroad.

02:59I think it's ridiculous. I don't think they should charge at all.

03:02It's cheaper to go out in school holidays and stuff like that,

03:04on holidays with parents and kids and stuff like that.

03:07Yeah, in my opinion, I think it's wrong.

03:09Or they should just make it cheaper for everyone just to go on holiday and enjoy family time.

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