School absence fine?

[indianabones2021]

So just had a letter from the school saying 2 weeks absence will not be approved and if we decide to go ahead we'll be referred to the Local Education Authority, Birmingham, where we may be issued a Penalty Notice or have legal action taken.

We have 2 kids (9 and 7) - would be first absence of this type for both.

Questions:

• I am pretty sure we'll be fined, but what would it be? £80 per parent - per child for the whole absence period (2 weeks) or per day?
• What is this legal action they mention?
• What are the chances of this "legal action"?

Thank you.

I have seen this type of comment float around a lot and my initial reaction is always the same. If you really loved your family then no, it's not morally wrong. What's morally wrong is expecting people to fork out 2 x their salary to visit family every few years.

Since most people just cannot afford those prices they'll try and work the system and get the most out of what they can.

I agree. It's often not a choice between saving money or go during holidays - it's go during term or not at all.

There's this hair shirt mentality on mumsnet, in which the highest ideal appears to be nose-to-the-grindstone.

This was included in our info @indianabones2021

National threshold for issuing penalty notices.
Parents may have heard about the new national threshold for issuing penalty notices which has been set at 10 sessions (5 school days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks.
However, if in an individual case the local authority believes a penalty notice would be appropriate, they retain the discretion to issue one before the threshold is met.
For example - where parents are deliberately avoiding the national threshold by taking several term time holidays below threshold, or for repeated absence for birthdays or other family events.

So we've had time to think about it and I think the school is fully aware now that we will be travelling. I expect we'll get the fines sometime in the new year when we return.

It has become apparent that in our school at least 3 families in the same classes as our kids returned over 1 week late after the summer holidays. They probably aren't aware of the new rules but they'll get fines too.

It's incredible how common it is. 2 guys at work I spoke to yesterday, well they're going Christmas time and taking 2 & 3 weeks off school. They too are expecting fines.

Up way past my bedtime scrolling for the answer for this!
3 weeks absence before summer holidays and 3 weeks the other side so 6 weeks total..
A 12 week once in a lifetime trip to see family we haven't seen in 6 years & see family members we will unlikely see ever again and for my daughter to fully learn about her culture on the other side of the world.
No option for them to ever visit the UK as they literally live in tin sheds in rural settings.
OP: I will hopefully find out the answer within the next couple of weeks and will let you know. Unless I'm in prison by then over this..ugh!

I should probably expand on the point about the tin sheds. They wouldn't be able to afford to fly over. And we certainly can't afford flights tickets for all close family members (8 tickets minimum)

Yes - it's the same for most people who have family abroad in places like Africa and the subcontinent.

I think it's in the hands of God as to whether you'll get the full fine or the discounted one but no doubt they'll use the new rules. Prison is exceptionally rare and a last resort - very few people have been sent.

Hmm, ahem, disruptive see strikes, see Covid. We take our kids out of school for a skiing holiday. Would we do this if they were struggling? No. In fact, we use it as an incentive for them to excel in school, and they always make sure to complete all their work before we go. Their teacher even praised us for reinforcing that responsibility.

I’m only bringing this up again in response to your comment about how disruptive it is.

Our children actually gain a lot from these trips:
Ski school (structured learning, just like a classroom)
French immersion (we are a French-speaking family)

At school, the French curriculum isn’t at their level, so we make sure any trips we take have an educational component. Our older son is already an advanced skier, and our younger one is getting there so I’d challenge the idea that this is just a simple holiday. It’s far from a one-size-fits-all situation.

teachers do an admirable job teaching our children but these fines seem like a money grab from the council more than anything.. easier to go after parents trying to make ends meet than criminals.

I opened this thread a long time ago and just wanted to come back to update everyone with our situation and what we've learnt since.

We did travel and in total we took 28 sessions off (14 days), originally was meant to be 11 days but our flight was delayed and there were no other options because it was around the new year. Our trip was 6/12/24-7/1/25.

We told the school before going but in hindsight this was pointless and perhaps even a mistake. They obviously rejected it. But having gone through so much material online and in social media, we decided to go anyway and pay the fine when we got back.

Well we're now in November, we've had no fine and no court summons and it's too late for them to issue them anyway. They have 6 & 7 months respectively to issue them.

It turns out that in our school many parents have taken kids out for over a week, in one case 5 weeks. But as far as we know none of them have been fined or taken to court. Our school appears to be one of the more lenient ones.

To summarise based on my experience and those of others across social media.

1. Fines/court summons really depends on the school.
2. Don't take the p*, up to around 2 weeks and at worst you'll get fined for the period of absence (£80 per parent, per child per period of absence).
3. If you do get fined, then don't take another lengthy period off again for 3 years.
4. Ignore all those people who love to scaremonger. These are your kids, this is your money and you know what's best.

We were neither fined or taken to court.