Latest news with #unauthorisedabsence
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The whopping total of fines in Bromley for unauthorised school absences
Bromley Council has made more than £41,000 from fining parents of children who were out of school without authorisation this year. The News Shopper submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Bromley Council to find out how much the local authority had made from unauthorised absence fines since the 2021-22 academic year. The FOI gave information as far as July 2025 and revealed that £41,160 was accumulated by the council since September 2024. In the 2021-22 academic year, which was the first full school year after pandemic restrictions eased, the council collected £16,500 in fines. This amount more than doubled the following year, with £33,300 raised in 2022-23. The total fine income increased again in 2023-24 to £36,960. The most recent academic year saw more than £41,160 collected in fines, surpassing the previous records. Looking at the figures by school term shows that the summer term usually brings in the most money from fines and has the highest number of fines issued. For example, in 2021-22, Bromley Council collected £11,640 in summer fines, which was more than two-thirds of the total that year, with 278 fines given out. This went up to £17,640 and 409 fines in 2022-23 and dropped slightly to £16,860 and 422 fines in 2023-24. This pattern probably happens because many families take children out of school for holidays during term time, especially in the summer when travel is often cheaper. But in the current 2024-25 year, the spring term has already brought in £22,620 in fines and 375 fines issued. This is more than any previous spring term and almost twice the summer term total of £10,560 and 251 fines so far this year. Overall, the total number of fines has grown a lot. There were 376 fines in 2021-22, then 773 in 2022-23, and 914 in 2023-24. So far this year, 821 fines have been issued, showing the council is taking attendance more seriously. School absence fines are typically issued when children have unauthorised absences from school, such as holidays during term time or unexplained absences. The money collected from school absence fines goes into Bromley Council's general fund, contributing to the local authority's overall budget. There is no specific requirement for how the funds are spent, so they may be used to support a range of council services, including education and attendance initiatives. Under current government rules, parents can be fined £80 per child if their child has 10 sessions (equivalent to five school days) of unauthorised absence within a 10-school-week period. This fine must be paid within 21 days to avoid increasing. If it is not paid within 28 days, the fine rises to £160. If a parent receives a second penalty notice for the same child within three years, the fine remains £160 with no early payment discount. Failure to pay penalty notices or continued unauthorised absences can lead to prosecution. This can result in a fine of up to £2,500 per parent per child, a community order, or a prison sentence of up to three months.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Parents in Derbyshire fined nearly £1m over school absences
Derbyshire County Council has generated nearly £1m from fines issued for unauthorised school absences, a Freedom of Information Act request has Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) obtained figures which show the authority issued 20,487 penalties since 2021, totalling £961,320, over the three academic years since county council said the fines had been issued at the request of head teachers and according to the mother-of-two Natalie, from Marehay near Ripley, has started a national campaign, called Fight School Fines, to get the law changed. She has started a petition, so far signed by 161,000 people, calling for parents to be entitled to 10 days of term-time leave without a fine. "A lot of these fines that are being issued and prosecutions for unauthorised absences aren't due to just going on holiday because they want to get it cheaper, which is the media narrative," Natalie said."They are marking things down that should fall under exceptional circumstances."For example, we are seeing loads of stories from parents where they have asked for authorised leave to visit family members who are poorly, or they have gone to a funeral overseas and they are not marking it as authorised, they are refusing it."The number of fines issued in Derbyshire in 2021 was 3,175 and that rose to 10,505 in amounts stand at £160 per parent, per child, with this fee reducing to £80 if paid within 21 council said 16,064 fines were for first-time offenders and 1,567 for second offences, with parents only able to accrue two penalties in a three-year rolling period before being prosecuted in figures show 1,016 Derbyshire parents have been prosecuted in the past three complete academic years , with six cases being fines do qualify as a criminal conviction and are attached to a criminal record, which would need to be added to a DBS check, the LDRS said. 'It's criminalising parents' "I am not surprised to see it going up," Natalie said."They say it will act as a deterrent, but clearly it is not doing because people still need to take leave during term-time."Even if it is a cost thing, they are doing it to save money, we don't know the reason why they can't afford to go in the holidays."It is not so black and white as people make out. Some people work seasonal jobs or run their own businesses, they can't just shut up shop."It doesn't act as a deterrent."It is criminalising parents. "Many parents don't know that what comes with that court fine is a criminal record. "Most of the time, parents are doing it because it is the best decision for them and their children. They are our children, they are not the state's."Having a criminal record for this is one step too far."I know families need to access term-time absence and that will never stop."This isn't just about being on holiday and getting a cheaper holiday." The LDRS said it asked the county council if it felt the penalties were serving as a deterrent, if they could respond to the perception that the penalties were criminalising parents, and if parents were saying they were willing to accept the fines to gain term-time holiday savings.A council spokesperson said: "Headteachers ask us to issue the fines, so this is one for schools and not the council."We respond to headteacher requests, we do not make the policies that schools make that lead to fines being issued. "The government sets the penalty fines amounts."This is the law and not the council's decision," the spokesperson added. The Department for Education, responding to Natalie's petition in December, said: "We sympathise with parents who, for a variety of reasons, face barriers to securing their children's school attendance."This government is taking a new approach to tackling absence based on responsibility, partnership and belonging."It said that involved working with schools and councils to remove barriers to spokesperson said: "The government takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that schools are equipped to meet children's needs and help them succeed, but that is matched by parents' legal responsibility to send their children to school every day that they department said it acknowledged some children had long-term physical or mental health conditions or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) which affected spokesperson added: "However, all of these children have the same need and right to a full-time education as any other pupil."
