Fine for taking child on holiday in term time questions.

[ColinRobinsonsfamiliar]

We have obviously been denied permission and a fine will be issued.
Is this an enforceable fine do you know?
What happens if people don’t pay it?

Proceedings will start that will end with you in court.

You go to court and end up with a CCJ against you.

Yes it is enforceable
You will be taken to court if you don’t pay.
Presumably you know this might happen so just pay it

I was just wondering.
Im going to pay it but was wondering if anyone has ever challenged it. Vaguely remember a chap going through the court system, it was on the news but can’t remember the upshot.

Did you get a fine for the first time ? Usually it's more of a warning isn't it then if it carries on a fine will be given

Yes a chap from the IoW (I think) challenged it. And lost.

They have to attend school regularly (and that means in line with regulations not just most days).

Yes, almost 100% attendance year in year out, very rarely off.
I booked it as a “fuck it” holiday after covid, paid for it over the course of a year. Cheaper in term time.
Never done it before.

My friend appealed her fine and ended up paying triple in court costs!! Taking my kids out for 2 days in may before half term and will suck up the fine

@Snowpatrolling you won’t get a fine for 2 days, it’s only if they’re out for 5 days you’ll be fined.

You won't get a fine for 2 days though, it's 4.5 sessions in a term I think.

It is not automatic that you will get a fine, it is at the discretion/recommendation of the head. Have they told you that they will fine you? At my school we have quite a lot of kids missing time for holidays. It can't be authorised but it doesn't have to be followed through.
I understand why people would lie, or at least not tell the truth.
The fine will have to be paid if issued.

Fine is ten missed sessions, there's 2 sessions in a day.

The fine is £60 per child, per parent.

When the fine kicks in depends on what your local authority have decided - it should be clear on your school’s or county council’s website. Where I am it’s 3 days. And yes, not paying it will just result in court. The government are clamping down more on attendance and there will be new policies issued for next school year which will probably bring all local authorities into line.

The head doesn't make the decision anyway. They make the decision to pass details to the council who then make the decision. If the absence is authorised they don't pass it on.

As pp said you might not get one. It’s at the heads discretion. I took my son out for 11 days last year and his attendance wasn’t great due to illness but because he’d had excellent attendance every other year we didn’t get one xx

It was this bloke

www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/13/high-court-father-fine-term-time-holiday-jon-platt

I have heard of some instances of the fine being issued, the parents not paying and nothing more happening. One was during covid so perhaps in the big pile of things that never got done during that period. LAs are very underfunded and busy after all, so for obvious reasons there aren't going to be stats collected on how often it's not followed through.

However I think as the fine is only £60 per parent per child, most people just pay it for an easy life. Haven't heard of any recent challenges. It would be interesting to hear someone make a case in the post lockdown context.

I got fined but only I got a fine and not my children's father.

You need to go to the source rather than rely on anecdotes. If you look up your council website there should be an education section where you can search for information about attendance and fines.

Your school will follow the local authority rules.

I’m pretty sure the offence is a strict liability one, so taking it to court is a hiding to nothing unless the facts are wrong.

With regards to the 10 sessions, do they fine if they child is absent for those in one go or do they add them up over the year?

Just asking as a few weeks back, my child fell over in a puddle and was soaked. I went into the school reception to tell them and then took him home to change him. However, I can see on the parent app it’s been classed as an unauthorised absence in the morning registration despite arriving at 9.40. Does anyone know if that would be counted towards the 10 sessions later in the year?

I think the challenges have been about what constitutes regular attendance, haven't they? I know with Jon Platt it was about forcing the LA to consider the wider context. Not sure if there have been any challenges since then or what's happened if so.

@SirMingeALot It may be - at our LA the policy sets out what is defined as regular attendance so I’m guessing any court case hinges on that. But ultimately if the fine has been properly issued and the LA’s facts are correct, parents would be unlikely to win and would therefore be liable to trial costs - £60 much much more preferable to those!

The court would need to assess whether the LAs policy is lawful or not. They may already have done so for your LA of course.

I get the distinct impression most people just pay the £60 for an easy life though. It still normally would work out cheaper than paying school holiday prices even if both parents get fined, so you'd have to really really want a fight about it. Which I think Jon Platt did!

In my area fines are issued for 10 consecutive missed sessions or attendance dipping under 86% because of a holiday.

I booked a holiday in te time for next year and just found out it's SATS week 🙄