Parents in Bolton who flouted the rules of term-time holidays have been hit with a total of £800,000 in fines over the past three years. A meeting of Bolton Council heard of a ‘worrying increase’ in the numbers of children missing school due to their parents taking advantage of cheaper holiday prices during school terms.
Last August, saw the first rise in unauthorised pupil absence fines since 2012. Parents who take their kids out of school for no proper reason can be hit with hefty fines of up to £160.
Prior to that, unauthorised absences saw parents issued with a £60 fine which increases to £120 per child if it is not paid within 21 days with a potential for prosecution for non-payment within 28 days. Councillors heard that for the academic year 2021/22 the income generated by such fines was £125,410.
For the following year 2022/23 the figure rose to £326,115 while in the most recent academic year 2023/24 there was another increase in penalty notice income, with £345,270 being paid to the council.
Coun Susan Priest told the meeting ‘there’s been a worrying increase in fines issued to parents for taking their children out of school for term time holidays’. She added: “While we understand the difference in price can be tempting, the loss of valuable education to the child is concerning.”
Cabinet member, Coun Martin Donaghy, said: “Any time off school can be disruptive to a child’s education. “To ensure equity for all parents and to give a clear message that children should be in school it is important we issue penalty notices.
“We are also legally obliged to do this. “Children missing school even for short periods means they miss out.
“Income derived from penalty notices is used to pay for the penalty notice system and prosecution.” He added that the vast majority of pupils in Bolton have an excellent attendance and the borough’s attendance figures have always been above the national average.
Nationally, nearly 400,000 penalty notices were issued in England in 2022-23 for unauthorised school absences. Those figures are much higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Almost nine in 10 (89.3%) of the fines were for unauthorised holidays, according to DfE figures.