Parents have lashed out at the authorities after they were fined almost £500 for repeatedly taking their children out of school to go on holiday. Paul Benson and wife Jessica took their children to Florida twice - and had two £240 fines as a result.
But the pair blasted the sanction as ‘unfair’ and said they were forced into doing it because it was so much cheaper in term time. They were given warnings before their last trip, in September, that it would have a detrimental effect on their children’s education.
Mr Benson told YorkshireLive: “My wife is a hospital theatre nurse who worked during the coronavirus crisis and they have a massive backlog of operations they are doing at the moment and it is difficult for us to get time off when we can all go together.”
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“It’s not like they are truant students, they might have had a two week holiday and two or three sick days. It’s significantly cheaper to go outside term time. A family of four like us to go to Florida during the summer holidays - we’d never be able to afford it.
“To go in August you can be looking at twelve grand, but then a week or two later in September its £3,700, so you think: ‘Well we’ll take the fine’. If you can’t afford to go during the holidays, you are penalised for it, that’s how it makes you feel.”
Department for Education (DfE) guideline say that you have to get permission from the head teacher if you want to take your child out of school during term time. It adds that there are two circumstances you can take your child out when school is taking place:
- you make an application to the head teacher in advance (as a parent the child normally lives with)
- there are exceptional circumstances
The DfE adds: “It’s up to the head teacher how many days your child can be away from school if leave is granted.” Mr Benson, from Redcar, said they have reconsidered doing it again after the school warned them about their kids' attendance. “But I work hard full-time and my wife works for the NHS so why can’t we have that entitlement to go on a holiday?” He added.
“We seem to be one of the few countries in the world that has this system [of fines], it seems unfair, and should be properly approached on a case by case basis. If you are taking the mick with poor attendance to start with, maybe you shouldn’t be granted that holiday, but if you are not abusing the system you should be entitled to take a family holiday when you want without being fined.
“If you are taking the mick with poor attendance to start with, maybe you shouldn’t be granted that holiday, but if you are not abusing the system you should be entitled to take a family holiday when you want without being fined. It’s a time to bond and for children to learn new life skills.”
In Redcar and Cleveland headteachers have discretion as to whether a fine for absence is issued or not, depending on whether exceptional circumstances are involved. In 2021/22 £12,941 worth of fines were issued in the borough - compared to approximately £57,000 in 2019/20.
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