Holiday fine.

[StepMum2b]

Hi everyone. Just looking for a bit of advice please. DP ex-partner has advised she is planning to take dss1 and dss2 out of school on holiday in term time next year without DP consent. He strongly does not agree with this as dss1 is at a key stage of his education and also because of the fine from the LEA!

DP ex has stated that DP will be fined whether he consents to the holiday or not as he has PR. Does anyone know if this is accurate? DP is planning at present of writing to school, ex and LEA that he does not consent to holiday. Is there anything else he should do?

Thanks by the way! Sorry

As far as I know, yes it's both parents who will be fined when a child is taken out for a holiday during term time. I'm not sure where he would stand though if he writes in and states his disagreement.

Maybe it would be worth posting this in legal - someone more knowledgeable may be able to answer. Or hopefully someone more so will pop in here.

This is a paragraph from www.nottinghampost.com/CRACKDOWN-KIDS-MISS-SCHOOL/story-20221598-detail/story.html

Thefines of £120 are handed out per parent, per child. This means that if a mum and dad take their two children out of school during term-time, they will face a £480 fine."

And another from www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-28687541 (August this year)

"Parents are fined £60 per parent per child per period of absence, which rises to £120 if not paid within 21 days.

Different local authorities deal with this differently. I suggest your DP contacts the school and ask for the policy, and then contacts the local authority Education welfare team and ask for their position on the issue.

The reality is that very few local authorities would be prepared to risk enforcing a fine on a non-resident parent who had not been aware of, or able to influence the abscence.

My suggestion is that your DP ensures he builds a relationship with the school so that they will notify him if his DC is absent, and then he can support the school to ensure his DC attends. They are very unlikely to fine him in those circumstances.

If the school follow the absolute letter of the fines structure then yes the NRP can be fined. The School may not chose to fine the NRP but they would be perfectly within their rights to. I would strongly suggest that your DP contacts the school and explains that he has not consented to this.

IF he wants to fight he could apply for a prohibitive steps order which would prevent her taking the kids out of school, but it would be opening a hornets nest so consider it carefully!

My suggestion is that your DP ensures he builds a relationship with the school so that they will notify him if his DC is absent, and then he can support the school to ensure his DC attends. They are very unlikely to fine him in those circumstances

Good advice, Wakey !

I know it really divides opinion on MN on whether parents should be able to take their DC out of school during term-time, to take them on holidays, "trip of a lifetime" etc, but ....

If your DP is strongly opposed to his DC missing any days of school, then it is a good idea to clarify / formalise his position to the school, in writing (even if they know some of the information, this is in the context of unauthorised holiday absence):

1. Details of the care arrangement (pattern of care in term time and holidays)
2. The fact that the DF has little or no visibility / control about what the DM chooses to do during her period of care
3. That DF does not give his permission within the scope of the care arrangement for his DC to miss any days of school due to holidays;
4. Any absence due to sickness would need to be evidenced in the approved manner (this would cover the situation where the DM claimed DC was "off sick" - the onus would be on her to prove with a GP note or similar).

Sorry for the ramblings, just a few thoughts ...

needaholidaynow sorry I just realised I was a bit late for you - did things work out OK in the end? Fingers crossed!

I know these school policies when written down seem so draconian and harsh, but IME, if the parent engages well with the school and shows good intent (and the fact the school is probably already aware of split care and hassles/issues with care), they can often be very supportive and flexible. It depends if you can form a good partnership with the HT or form teacher.

That's just my experience, maybe we have been lucky with DSS's school, but worth a try. If they do hit you with a fine, is there an appeals process you can use, where you could evidence it was not in your time of care and your DH had no control despite best efforts etc .....