Parents must ensure their children are in school or face the consequences, the education secretary has warned after record numbers of families in England were hit by fines for unauthorised holidays.
In the last school year more than 443,000 fines were issued to parents taking their children out of school during term time to go on holiday, a 53% increase since before the Covid pandemic, when parents seemed to become more relaxed about attendance.
In 2018-19 – the last full year before the pandemic closed schools to most children – just 288,000 penalty notices were issued by local authorities.
One parent told a recent survey: “After Covid, I’m not gonna lie to you, my take on attendance and absence now is like I don’t really care any more. Life’s too short.”
After taking over as education secretary in July, Bridget Phillipson confirmed plans for the fines to rise from £60 to £80 per parent this year.
“Tackling the epidemic of school absence is everyone’s responsibility – government, schools, parents, and children – we need a national effort to get young people back in the classroom,” Phillipson said.
“But behaviour like term-time holidays cannot be changed with support alone. This is why fines have a vital place in our system, so everyone is held accountable for ensuring our children are in school.
“When children miss school unnecessarily, all children suffer, as teachers’ attention is diverted to helping them catch back up. We will not apologise for ensuring every child is in school accessing high and rising standards so they can achieve and thrive.”
Some local authorities are more aggressive in levying fines – Barnsley in South Yorkshire issued more than 6,000 fines among parents of its 31,000 pupils aged between five and 16. Warrington borough council, meanwhile, has a policy of no fines.
Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said that with holidays accounting for 91% of fines for absence it was clear that cheaper trips were a major lure.
“For many families the threat of a fine is not acting as a significant deterrent in the way the government hoped it would. This is largely due to the exorbitant charges for holidays outside of term time,” Whiteman said.
“We have long-argued that fines are a blunt tool for tackling this issue and the data appears to bear this out once again.”
Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “While children and young people being in school during term time is clearly beneficial, unless we address the reasons behind term-time holidays this situation will continue.”
Parental fines rose sharply in 2013, after headteachers had their discretion to authorise term-time holidays removed other than for exceptional circumstances such as funerals.
Since Covid both authorised absences for illness and unauthorised absences have remained stubbornly high, with children’s mental health and anxiety among the biggest drivers.
• This article was amended on 31 January 2025. Barnsley is in South Yorkshire, not West Yorkshire as an earlier version said.
