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Unauthorised school absence fines set to increase as cases rise in Kent
KentOnline / KMTV
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19/07/2024
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.
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Sports
Transcript
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00:00
Missing a bit of school here or there isn't something that would usually be classed as a crime.
00:05
But with unauthorised absences at an all-time high,
00:08
the penalties for not being in class are about to get a little bit stricter.
00:12
Until now, councils in Medway and Kent have had their own policies on when to issue fines.
00:17
But to create a more uniform approach, new guidelines are putting a number on what's allowed.
00:23
Schools across England are being told to consider a fine
00:26
after a child has missed five days of school without the headteacher's permission.
00:31
Previously, when this happened, there was a fine of £60 per parent, per child.
00:36
But from September, this will increase to £80.
00:39
And if parents fail to pay this within 21 days, it doubles to £160.
00:44
Failure to pay a penalty at all can result in prosecution.
00:48
Unauthorised absences are defined as not turning up to school without permission,
00:52
being consistently late and missing formal exams.
00:56
But why is school attendance so important?
00:58
We spoke to headteacher David Jones to find out.
01:01
There needs to be a deterrent from students being absent from school
01:06
because that's the place where they're safest and their education is most secure.
01:09
You know, the places that instil values and create the young people
01:13
that are going to go out and be the citizens and leaders of our communities for tomorrow.
01:18
Without a solid school environment, without a decent attendance,
01:22
students are missing out on a lot of opportunities to establish
01:25
who they are going to be as the adults they're going to be in the future.
01:29
Education is built on a series of curriculums from each subject.
01:33
And the curriculum is built in such a way that if you miss a portion of it,
01:36
you're missing out on a section of learning that you may not return to for another academic year.
01:42
According to a report from the Department of Education,
01:46
in Kent and Medway alone, over 13,000 penalty notices were issued in the 2022-2023 academic year.
01:53
That's a 71% increase from the year before.
01:56
Of these, nearly 90% were penalties for unauthorised holiday reasons.
02:01
Since 2020, the amount of absences linked to holiday has been rising steeply
02:05
and has already overtaken pre-pandemic levels.
02:08
So why are parents taking their children out of term time
02:11
rather than during the designated school holidays?
02:14
I've jumped onto Jet2 to look at holiday packages to Marbella for two adults and two children.
02:19
And in the middle of September during term time, the cheapest one is coming up at £746.
02:25
Now I'm going to look at the same holiday package, but in the middle of August,
02:28
and it's coming up at £879.
02:31
So that's a difference of £133, which easily covers that minimum fine of £80
02:36
and even covers most of the higher £160 penalty as well.
02:41
I had a look at other sites and the results were coming up exactly the same.
02:45
Well, clearly the prices are a lot cheaper during term time
02:48
and the fines don't seem to be making too much a difference to that at all.
02:52
But I do still wonder if they will have an effect on parents' decisions
02:56
about when they choose to go abroad.
02:59
I think it's ridiculous. I don't think they should charge at all.
03:02
It's cheaper to go out in school holidays and stuff like that,
03:04
on holidays with parents and kids and stuff like that.
03:07
Yeah, in my opinion, I think it's wrong.
03:09
Or they should just make it cheaper for everyone just to go on holiday and enjoy family time.
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