Please bare with me, this is a long one!
My children's school instructed the Local Authority to issue me with a Fixed Penalty Notice in July of this year following an unauthorised absence.
For context, the absence was due to the children's dad taking them on a holiday for 5 days during term time. Dad and I are divorced, and have a very strained relationship. There have been previous Court Orders in place due to DV (perpetrated by him) and whilst he does maintain a good relationship with his children, our relationship is very dysfunctional.
Notably, there is no Prohibited Steps Order in place, so I have no legal power to stop him taking them out of the country (we have equal PR).
The school wrote to me informing me I was to be fined for this unauthorised absence and to expect a FPN from the Local Authority, which then arrived.
I contacted the Headteacher (who knows the extensive complex history and personal circumstances between dad and I) and confirmed that I had no part in this holiday - I didn't book it, pay for it, go on it or even consent to it! But ultimately, my lack of consent is a civil matter, not a legal matter.
She responded to say she would not be withdrawing the FPN as it sits with the Local Authority.
I then contacted the Local Authority, outlined the above, and was informed that FPNs are issued against 5 criteria and cannot be withdrawn, though they did advise me to go back to the Headteacher as criterion 3 states that FPNs are at the discretion of the Headteacher and are based on individual circumstances ie they can't cancel it, but the Headteacher can so to ask again.
I contacted the Headteacher again, and was contacted on the last day of term at 3.30pm to confirm she would not be cancelling the fine. Reasons given were largely she is following Local Authority policy & both parents are responsible for ensuring their children attend school. Again, I contested that 2 separated parents can be re-banded together as one party when our marriage and financial ties have been legally dissolved!
Fast forward, after raising this issue with my local MP, as well as the board of governors after unanswered emails from the school, the unpaid FPNs have now resulted in Court proceedings against me.
I have received a section 444(1) and I'm charged with failing to ensure my child attends school regularly (2 charges of this for 2 children).
The prosection case has been shared with me, and is full on material errors, including my name being spelt incorrectly in all FPNs, and incorrect recording of absences.
This 5 day period of absence was the first unauthorised absence they've ever had (year 5 and 6) since being at the school, but the attached Attendance Certificate has recorded another absence as unauthorised prior to this.
I've contacted the school again and asked for the incorrect data to be rectified (a 3 day sickness absence just before half term was recorded as unauthorised when it shouldn't have been. I followed the school policy and kept them off school for 48 hours following sickness & diarrhoea).
I've been told that they will not update thir record as, and I quote, my "ex husband told them we were on holiday" - they had called him during the half term week when we were actually away.
When I challenged this, I was then told "another pupil also said you were going on holiday". Again, we were, but not until the weekend and all days of the holiday were during the half term.
I have provided the school with confirmation of my holiday and I'm yet to hear back from them.
I intend to plead Not Guilty and include in my statement that I'm not the person the FPNs have been addressed to, and there are errors in the Attendance Cerificate which form part of their prosection.
I also have to highlight as this charge is a "strict liability" charge, there are only 5 accepted defences in Court. Only 1 of them potentially applies to me "unavoidable cause" i.e. I couldn't take them to school as they'd already left the country.
My question really is has anyone else experienced such extensive measures to prosecute a parent? I feel my individual circumstances are being totally ignored, that they're looking simply to prosecute and not support me, and of course this pending Court trial is causing significant distress.
My work means I travel abroad frequently, and therefore cannot have a criminal record.
The easy option would be to suck it up and just pay the fine, but I really don't see why I should have to when I had absolutely nothing to do with this absence!
It's also gone beyond that stage now as pleading guilty would mean I'm sentenced.
I'm concerned of this happening again in the future. If he decides to take them out of school again, and as I have no legal power to stop him, I potentially face all of this again.
Thanks in advance for reading, and please advise if you've experienced similar!