School absence fines. Has anyone on here actually been fined?

[NickiFury]

And what were the circumstances? If you don't mind sharing.

Just wondering really as there are daily threads about this issue usually turning into big bun fights and fear of fines etc. Personally I don't know anyone who has actually been fined despite taking children out mid term.

So just wondering if there's any MNetters who have. Did both parents have to pay etc?

Thanks

No Viva they can't.

Rusty I get that but I think also the term 'session' gets used (confusingly) to mean the duration of the holiday.

So a parent would be fined £60 whether the holiday was 1 week long or 2.

In Viva's case I'm sure the word 'session' meant duration of the holiday although I could be wrong.

kim, it's per holiday.

The fine will be £60 per parent, per child for the holiday taken - not per day or per school session (ie, morning/afternoon) that was missed.

You need to look at your LA's website to find out how the fines work - although the regulations say that 'a penalty notice' is for £60, rising to £120 if not paid, they also say that it is up to the LA to determine the circumstances under which it is issued.

From education.gov.uk:

"The Education (Penalty Notices) Regulations 2007 set out the details of how the penalty notice scheme must operate. This includes a requirement that every local authority must draw up and publish a Code of Conduct for issuing penalty notices, after consulting all schools, including academies, and the police. The code should set out the criteria that will be used to trigger the use of a penalty notice. These could include: a number of unauthorised absences, perhaps within a rolling academic year; one-off instances of irregular attendance such as holidays taken during term time without the school’s permission; and where an excluded child is found in a public place during school hours without a justifiable reason. "

So the number of absences that triggers a penalty notice isn't set nationally; a Code of Conduct must be published by each Local Authority and once published, adhered to, but it could be different from one LA to another, so presumably one authority could issue one for each session of absence (ie a half day) whereas another only issues one for the whole absence.

£60 for that whole holiday Kim

So if for example the child took 2 weeks off, the fine would be £60.

If the child took 1 week off the fine would also be £60.

So the number of absences that triggers a penalty notice isn't set nationally

Yes that's true.

The attendance officer I spoke to the other week, said that fines are only issued after a certain amount of sessions are missed during the first half term.

I can't remember the amount she said but it accumulates as the terms go on.

Once a child has missed a certain amount of sessions, they are then flagged up as persistently absent and the EWO amongst other professionals will then get involved.

My friend returned from her wedding which had been authorised before last September to a letter saying she was being fined £60 per parent for her child. The school authorised one week for the wedding and they were fined for the second week.

One of her family members had been fined per parent per child and it was £240.

Obviously not just the first half term but that's where it starts...then the number of sessions a child needs to have missed in order to be persistently absent, obviously rises as the school year continues.

Weathergames that is not correct. You used to be able to have up to 10 days authorised leave (at heads discretion) with the old system.
The new rules mean that if you have over 10 sessions unauthorised (a session is a morning or afternoon - so 5 days = 10 sessions) then a request to fine can be generated by the school.
This goes to the local authority who then decide whether or not to fine (they look at reasons for leave, previous leave, attendance etc..)

When it came in, our LA did consult with schools, and I remember in one of the discussions someone saying that theoretically a penalty notice could be issued per child, per parent, per session, so a 5 day absence for two children could trigger 20 penalties, or £1200. But I don't know whether any LAs have actually set this level in their Code of Conduct.

You could be right kim

I think thats what causes confusion...the fact some boroughs do things differently.

Worra, the school defiantly gave an amount per child of £120 per day per parent. Though they haven't tried to enforce it as currently both kids have attendance of over 95%.

Mouse that is appalling.

And these fines for children being persistently late.....what about children with caring responsibilities.

Hang on. We just got fined for one day's unauthorised absence. We already had an authorised absence and some illness earlier in the year which put us below 95%. Are people saying that we in effect got fined because of the authorised absence and the illness? I've looked up the local authority website (LB Barnet) and can't find any Code of Conduct; just some written guidance that says nothing about it being triggered by 95%, just that you'll be fined.

i have experience of two parents per kid

lots of it. Even absent parents

a fine, per parent per kid, I mean

Nicki

I can assure you LOADS of parents get fined - and some dont pay so end up in court where they almost always are found guilty and pay a bigger fine and costs.

in case anyone was interested

Not sure if people feel this is an old issue or not.

Kids don't get fined at our school.Loads go on all sorts of holidays,maybe their absence rates are still good.