School fines help pls

[curlyk456]

We have a school fine come thru the post today. It was dated 10th December, it says fine must be paid within 21 days of receipt of the letter. Yet when we have gone to pay it, the fine has doubled. So it's not 21 days from the 10th, just from receipt of the letter.

There's no number to call on the letter, really don't know what to do. The letter just came in the post, didn't have to sign for it or anything. We had a huge bunch of post come thru at the same time- I'm assuming festive period delay?

Has this happened to anyone, I will pay it. Just not double because we didn't get it in the time they are stating

Was this before the end of August last year? If it was then it's a moot point as the rules have changed and the councils are being pressured to pursue.

If you repeatedly take your children out of school you won't het anymore fines, you'll simply be taken to court, where you'll get a criminal record and much larger fines (which you'll have no choice but to pay).

Not saying it's morally right though.

Yes they can.

On both cases (reissuing and revoking PN).

I had a PN reissued to a parent a couple of weeks before Christmas. I've also had cases referred back to us and I've said no.

And revoking is fairly routine. We have revoked multiple. A school just has to tell the LA they want to revoke the PN.

The only way for OP to offer any kind of defence, or plead extenuating circumstances, is via the court.

This is false.

So you advocate every parent just taking their child out of school whenever they want? In the lead up to important exams? During important learning? And guessing you then expect teachers to pick up with each child on their return to cover missing work. But hey, as long as you get your all inclusive pool holiday. What a shit attitude....

I would email today (and get a delivery and read receipt) just stating facts (when you received the letter, that you are willing to pay the initial fine) and call on Monday to follow it up. Hopefully you’ll get through to a human who listens and applies some common sense.

I would email the general enquiries email for the LA they will get it to the right department.

Make a point that you live on a new build estates and received your post in bulk after the deadline, that you are happy to pay the original fine but not the increased one as late receipt of the letter was not your fault

I'd email that today, they won't get it til Monday and will probably take 3-5 working days before you get a response but it so you tried to contact them at the earliest point.

Seeing as the fines re issued by the LA, not the school, clearly this didn’t happen as you're claiming.
‘Telling someone not to pay a fine isnt the greatest advice you could give.

@Livelovebehappy

I didn't even remotely say any of that. You just made up all your own points.

When I took my son out he didn't have important exams - because he was 9

And as much as I'd LOVE an all inclusive beach holiday, unfortunately it was only a caravan trip with his grandparents. Which he loved.

Will I do it when he's in high school and about to face exams? Of course I won't, don't be so stupid.

Whether you agree or disagree with taking kids out of school on term time is a moot point. The fact we live in a society where councils profit off of it is the scandal here.

OP, check the date on the envelope. LA mailrooms are notorious for being slow! If the date stamp on the envelope is a later date, one could argue that you should have 21 days from that date, not the date of the letter. Plus there has been 3 bank holidays in that time period - they shouldn't count towards the time period.
In order to not risk a further increase in the fine, I would advise you paying it now then appealing the increase.

I doubt councils make much if anything by the time the costs of managing fines is taken into account. They also have limited discretion.

You refer to a religious trip, whilst I won't ask for details, can you argue that it had to be at a particular time? And appeal against the fine.

Well you've provided further context in this post. Omitted in your first. And you did say nothing would stop you taking out your child, which kind of suggests anytime anywhere. And the council have no option other than fines. Just asking people to not take kids out-of school term time wont cut it - the request will be ignored so a deterent is needed. I actually think the fine should be higher as often it still doesn't offset the saving for the cost of the holiday. I think it's wrong to remove kids during term time. You don't. We just have to agree to disagree.

This

I think our letter we got 14 days to pay it doubles - bit like a parking ticket

It is 21 days, not 14.

The process for attendance penalty notices is standardised across all of England. See attached summary.

Essentially royal mail has failed to do act within its obligations personally people are missing NHS appt due to this (or so they say)

The whole situation is ridiculous and schools should send these letters via email as well to reduce issues like these where a 3rd party has caused financial strain

Realistically speaking the religious trip could have been taken any time but it nigh on impossible to even get flights from 10th December onwards- trust me I checked. It gets very busy there over winter. I didn't want to go in Easter as my son has exams. We are very strict in education in general, my kids are doing really well (in primary) and we even have tuition classes for them. Plus we had a huge extended family going and an elderly member who is not very well so not sure about the future. We took off 5 days.
I explained all this in a letter to them, but zero shits given. We have friends and families in other schools where they have been supported and not fined. I have friends in this school who have gone for some random jollies and not fined. It's very discriminatory I believe and upsetting but I cba with the school because they won't care.

Rules are the rules and if you take your kids out of school you should expect a fine. I personally don't agree with taking kids out for any reason apart from an emergency or family bereavement.
The postal delay isn't ideal but hopefully if you explain you should be able to pay the original fine.

Ah it's changed. Last year and 2022 and 2023 we paid £60per parent so £120

Cost gone up. Course it would

Good luck with sorting this 🍀

We had to pay a school fine (well four, two kids two parents…) a couple of weeks back, when we logged into the system you had to input they amount you were paying (as in it wasn’t completed with the amount due). If yours is the same can you pay the lower amount now while you try to query it to show willing and that you’re paying the amount that should be due based on when you revived the notice?
Ours took over two months to come through and there was no way to pay until the letter arrived so it’s not as straightforward as just knowing it’s coming as some posters suggest.

@Deerrobin it says the set amount already

Thanks all, will call tmrw and update. Really hoping they let us pay the original reduced amount because I cba with the headache of all this. This whole system is dumb

Once we got a letter saying we were being done for speeding and had ignored the first two letters! We never received them! Unfortunately it’s their word against yours so suck it up.

It’s not dumb if you don’t take your kids out of school

@teaandtoastwithmarmite it is dumb because it's not the same across the board, some ppl get favouritism and some don't. Some ppl get discriminated against them and some don't. And yes I have friends who have told me their reasons for going so I can compare.

And the fine system- says on the letter 21 days from reciept of the letter yet nothing to prove receipt of the letter. Dumb.

But the law doesn't work like that OP. You can't say 'but look they did it too Miss!' If you did the crime, you know you're liable to do the time regardless of whatever happens to others. The school will have a policy and they've just followed that. Other people's circumstances are of no bearing (and none of your business.)

FWIW I'm from a background where many people travel to observe religious holidays and I don't think anything about this is discriminatory. Allowing children travel time as well as the day of religious observance would end up being discriminatory though, because it would mean that children from some cultures would miss a disproportionate amount of school?

As long as they’ve got the correct address for you then they’ll assume you received it within XX number of days following them posting it. I’d say probably around 3 days? It doesn’t matter to them whether you read it, it just matters that they sent it to the correct place and that they’ve adhered to timescales. They can’t make you open your post 🤷‍♀️

Google the Attendance Compliance Team of your council. Call them Monday to discuss