School fines. Did you pay??

[10oclocknews]

I'm aware this is a very divided subject and one which has passionate supporters on each side of the fence however my question is to gauge how many people have refused to pay the fine and landed themselves in court.
I'm currently deciding weather to pay mine. I fully accept that attendance at school is very important and my son turns up at school on time everyday, and apart from this yr has had 1uuu00% attendance for the last 4 yrs. This yr however has been an anomaly. He has had no time off sick (lucky for us I know). At Easter I took my son out of school to visit family in South Africa and to combine with a memorial service for my late father. It wasn't a family holiday and wasn't done to save money (it actually cost us more to go when we did as it was actually over the Easter period). We went at this time as I'm currently at university studying midwifery which is heavily regulated by the NMC and I'm required to have 100% attendance in order to fulfill the course requirements. I only get 7wks off a yr. my husband also works and struggles to get time off during holidays unless booked a yr in advance. My sons (he's 8) Easter holidays this yr however did not start until 2 wks after Easter so in order to attend the memorial which was planned to enable all who were attending were available it meant I had to take my son out of school for 8 days. It isn't something we will repeat as I woukd not book a family holiday during term time. I write to the head teacher to outline the situation and did ask for work to take away. No work was given and permission not granted as it wasn't deemed exceptional circumstances and listed as a family holiday. To me it was exceptional and meant a great deal to me. However because of her judgement and interpretation I'm now being fined.
I've written some strongly worded emails to my LEA as I feel the fine is unjust at this time. My sons attendance is currently over 93% even with the days off. I'm debating whether to pay the fine as I feel this is an admission of an offence I don't feel I've committed. I'm not denying my child an education. However if I don't pay I'm worried I could land myself with a criminal record which could have serious implications on my future as a student midwife. I'm awaiting responses from the LEA and my local MP but in the meantime I thought I'd see if anyone has been in a similar position and what the outcome was.
Thank you xx

Reading this with interest.... My sister is selfishly getting married abroad this summer. Looks like I'll be getting a fine. I hate getting into trouble. It's making me feel sick . I'm dreading the talk with headteacher. I never take my child out of school. But as we are taking so much of her stuff for the wedding were driving there & back.

Loulou2kent I'd discuss with the HT and go from there. Not all unauthorised absences end in a fine. It depends on the number on consecutive sessions missed. Would he miss long?? I'm sure you won't get a telling off but you may well be fined but again depends on your local council. The neighbouring borough to me which is just a mile away have currently halted all fines and legal proceedings until further notice so maybe any changes may fall in your favour. I hope you have a good outcome and thoroughly enjoy your sisters wedding xx

Becky- what are you talking about with the Magistrates finding people guilty? It's a civil penalty, not a criminal matter. The Magistrates either enforce the penalty or they don't.

It is a recordable criminal offence; if the magistrates convict you, you will have a criminal record which will affect your career

Thanks 10oclock!

Ive just said to DP that we will pay whatever fine & not make a big deal. Annoyingly because we are driving & not flying he's off crime a weds to the following Thursday. . We are the only guests with school age children though. My sister & all her friends have young children or no children, so they've made the most of going at term time so that more people could afford to go. I'll speak with HT after half term.

His teacher already pulled me aside & asked me to remind them two weeks before we go, so that they can get some work together for him to do over there. They're really good at working with parents.

Goodluck to you too going forward with the challenge etc. X

Sometimes in exceptional circumstances some but not all the days will be authorised (ie. 5 days requested for funeral at other end of country, 3 days auth (2 for travel) and 2 unauth) so sometimes schools will avoid the fine that way, if the child otherwise has good attendance.

OP I would just pay. If you don't you will definitely have to go to court, and asked to plead guilty or not. If you plead not guilty you'd be summoned to court at a later date, and the sanction could be much greater. Equally, it could be less or you could be given an absolute discharge!

I'm in the same situation and wondering if I should pay. What is the money that I pay for? The whole thing it's pointless. The fine isn't a deterrent to take away your kid it's just annoying. What does the council do with our £120?

I asked my council this question and the chief executive wrote back to say the money goes towards covering administration and implementation of the fines. No mention of it going back to the schools. However it's their system and expense is generated by them. If they didn't fine they'd have no expenses!! My MP has been involved with mine and has also written to the chief exec advising he should halt all prosecutions and issuing of fines in light of recent high court rulings. Our neighbouring borough has halted all fines until further notice but not mine. I have until 13th June to pay £120 or the 20th June to pay £240. I'm hanging fire until the chief exec replies but feel i'll probably pay it as really think the stress of a court case will make me I'll despite me feeling I should fight it. I have a lot on right now. I informed my council of the MPs actions but they replied they have acted lawfully and have no intention of retracting the fine and no refunds will be issued The reason schools are so stringent with attendance (so I believe) is because ofsted ratings can be affected by attendance rates and low rankings could have long term affects for the school eg. Interventions / forced academy status etc x

The money pays for the administration of the penalty notices and the rest is kept by the Council - In the one local authority I know about, the extra money was used within the local authority's education services - Councils' budgets are being cut year on year and so they are increasingly just providing statutory services and cutting any additional support they used to provide to pupils/schools. In the council I used to work for, the money was used to plug the funding gaps and try to keep some of the additional pupil support going (at least until the next round of cuts...)

They have acted lawfully, so I don't think you rally have an argument to not pay.

Our LA has said still full steam ahead with this system regardless of the Jon Platt case.

Many LA's aren't aren't issuing fines until legislation is clarified. Ours still is but they wil only take ones to court where there is irregular attendance (roughly less than 90%). I suspect many will still be issuing penalty notices but not pursuing non payment.

Tink06 I suspect you are right and this has been my thought process. My sons attendance is around 95% however I'm not sure I'm brave enough at this time to take my chances. Given that the DfE are now ploughing money into appealing the high courts recent decision in the platt case I'm thinking the councils may well try and clamp down much harder!!!

How are the fines calculated? Set amount per day of absence? We don't have them here in NI (yet).

Per day, per parent, Love - so a two-parent family can be charged double.

OMG! And the money isn't even going back into education? That's extortionate!