Will I be fined for kids missing school?

[NameChangedJune]

under the new national framework, all schools will be required to consider a fine when a child has missed 10 or more sessions (5 days) for unauthorised reasons

Does anyone know what period this 5 days is calculated over? Per year, term? Or is there no cutoff?

I am taking kids on a holiday for Autumn half term (long distance travel to see relatives and celebrate Diwali in India) which will mean missing 3 days.

I will also take them out for two days in March as I misread the term dates and have booked a holiday before the Easter hol starts. Will I be fined for this, and it will count towards the ‘two fines then prosecute’ new rules?

I read it was in a 10 week period

Just to add, other than the odd day or 2 holiday, kids attendance is good (98%) and they are both doing very well, so the school shouldn’t have any concerns other than needing to follow the guidance.

Oh that sounds promising!

Fine will be considered if a week or more per term of unauthorised absence, with escalating fees if repeated.

It's in a 10 week period. The fines have changed though, first "offence" is normal fine just a bit more expensive. Second offence in 3 years £160 per parent, per child. 3rd offence in 3 years I believe straight to court :/

Will really affect those who rely on taking their children out of school in term time to afford a holiday altogether. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong but that's what I remember reading.

Thanks all - is anyone able to point me in the direction of the gov source of the “10 week period” rule?

Not sure this really helps the actual reason some children don't/can't attend school. My dd 16 has just finished school luckily, she has severe anxiety and school refusal, we think related to covid. The school was really not helpful I was doing everything to get her in but, how can you get a screaming and crying 16 year old into school?
At her worst she had 63% attendance.

im sorry to hear this, I totally agree - all they say is: “For children who face complex barriers to attendance, schools should have sensitive conversations with children and families and work with them to put support in place for their individual needs.”

if the school aren’t helping then hopefully as a minimum they have the discretion to authorise the absences as health-related while the issues are supported?!

I'm not sure about gov source, we got this message directly from school.

Presumably the point is to “really affect those who rely on taking their children out of school” to encourage them to stop.

I'm a governor and I was told they were updating the policy due to DoE advice, not sure on exact document.

I rely on taking DS out of school once a year to visit family abroad. However the rest of the year his attendance is really good so I don't fall foul of these regulations. I also use my common sense and if he had missed school due to illness I wouldn't then take him abroad during term time/wont do it during GCSE year etc. It's not compulsory to go abroad for any reason.

OP you might get the Diwali trip authorised as it's a religious observance. Give it a try.

The guidance we've been sent from our school, is that the school will have to report all unauthorised absences, and the LA have the right to fine parents even if the threshold has not been met. It's £80 per parent per child if paid within 21 days, so I would budget that into your finances. If you don't get fined, take the win.

We've never had an issue with absences of less than 5 days, nor has anyone I know at our school.

There's mention of the 10 sessions in 10 school weeks at page 57 in this guidance

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f1b048133c22b8eecd38f7/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance__applies_from_19_August_2024_.pdf

I wonder if they will go straight to court for those kids who have good attendance/progress otherwise and just need a bit of flexibility for long distance travel.

E.g. we go to India every October half as the weather is more bearable and it’s Diwali so a great time to see family and celebrate. A week just isn’t long enough so we take a couple of extra days to have 2 full weekends there, possibly 5 depending on when Diwali actually falls.

otherwise kids are in school every day and have really good immune systems as they were constantly sick in the nursery years, so attendance is good.

If we ended up with 2 fines would a court case be inevitable?

There's a lot of local variation here. Some schools and LAs give many more fucks than others.

Forgive my ignorance- is illness an authorised absence?

To be honest I think that for Diwali those abscences should be authorised it is part of your culture but I would be nervous to tell the school if your school are the type to nitpick at everything. As for the Easter holiday I wouldn't mention it and just call in and say it's illness not a holiday

Where it is for a family wedding it's worth seeking permission as there is discretion in some circumstances, misreading the term dates is unlikely to get exempted though. I would also caution that they will look at whether there are too many odd days so I would definitely suggest that is the limit for the day, they don't have to allow you any

You might get it authorised on religious grounds too, my dc got time off for religious reasons regularly (choristers)

If you explain that it's for a religious festival they should allow you some leeway x

I’ve tried the religious argument before. They will allow one day for Diwali but must be the day of the festival itself, but e.g. if that day is during half term or on a Sunday, they wouldn’t allow the Monday to travel back. They say we can have it off to celebrate but at home, not travel to another continent! So if Diwali falls on a term time day we get one day allowed out of however many we take.

Also tried ‘but it’s a 5-day festival” but that didn’t wash either!

But basically, if it’s 5 days in a 10 week period as the replies suggest, then we should be okay as we would never go over that. Wish that point was clearly stated though!

The suggestion is often met with horror in here, but in reality a lot of people who are taking a couple of days either side of a school holiday will simply lie about an illness. Especially if they have otherwise high attendance. You'll know more than us about whether your school is likely to have the inclination and resources to do any form of checking, but it is very much A Thing.