Fines shelved for holidays in term

CLLR AMANDA CHADDERTON

LEGAL action against parents who take children out of school during term-time has been temporarily suspended by Oldham Council.

It comes after the case of Jon Platt who refused to pay a £120 fine to Isle of Wight Council for taking his daughter on an unauthorised term-time holiday to Disneyland and subsequently won a High Court ruling in his favour.

The Isle of Wight Council has been told it can apply to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal against the judgment.

Depending on this outcome, the government may change the current legislation.

In the meantime, 10 local authorities nationwide have dropped their cases against parents over term-time holidays, seven - including Oldham - have suspended issuing fines and 12 are reviewing their policies.

More than 80 local councils provided information to the BBC following Mr Platt's victory in the High Court in May.

Forty-nine of the councils said they were not changing any of their procedures and a handful responded to say they would not comment.

Councillor Amanda Chadderton, cabinet member for education and safeguarding, told the Evening Chronicle: "In recent months a high-profile high court ruling saw a parent win an appeal after being prosecuted for taking their child out of school to go on holiday.

"Appeal court judges ruled that it is not illegal to remove a child from school if they otherwise have regular attendance.

"Since this ruling, Oldham Council ­- as well as many other local authorities ­- has suspended the prosecution of parents for taking their children out of school to go on holiday.

"Oldham Council is waiting on the government to address this matter via legislation.

"High attendance is a priority as it is proven that regular absences can lead to gaps in children's learning, poor behaviour and attainment.

"We still prosecute parents whose children have a poor school attendance.

"If being taken out of school to go on holiday results in a pupil's overall attendance being unsatisfactory, their parents will be prosecuted as normal."

Last October, then Oldham Council leader Jim McMahon called for more common sense and understanding, after figures showed that 2,026 parents in Oldham received penalty notices last year - the eighth highest amount of any local authority area in England.

Since September 2013, under guidance from the Department of Education (DfE), children can only be taken out of school during term time in "exceptional circumstances".

If they skip school during term time, parents face a £60 fine. That doubles to £120 if it is not paid within three weeks.

Those failing to pay face prosecution ­- and a fine of a maximum of £2,500 following prosecution, or up to three months in prison.

The department says that is at the discretion of the headteacher and always has been.

Head teachers have previously said they wanted detailed guidance on what constituted exceptional circumstances.

Under the 2006 guidelines, parents could be fined £60 for the unauthorised absence of a child, if it was paid within 28 days, rising to £120 if it was paid within 29 to 42 days.

In September 2013, the time-scale for payment was reduced to 21 days at £60 and 28 days at £120 respectively.

According to DfE statistics there were 151,125 penalty notices issued to parents in England for their children's term-time absence from school in 2014-15, a 54 per cent increase compared with the previous year.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, there are no fines for parents who take their children on holiday in term-time.

A spokesperson from the DfE added: "Children should not be taken out of school without good reason. That is why we have tightened the rules and are supporting schools and local authorities to use their powers to tackle unauthorised absence.

"The evidence shows that every extra day of school missed can affect a pupil's chances of achieving good GCSEs, which has a lasting effect on their life chances - vindicating our strong stance.

"A child who is absent also impacts teachers, whose planning of lessons is disrupted by children missing large portions of teaching.

"Almost 200,000 fewer pupils are now persistently missing school than in 2010, thanks to the hard work of teachers, who are insisting on improved pupil behaviour and attendance."