PARENTS in Manchester have been issued with 133 fines for allowing their children to miss school - some for being on holiday in term-time.
Many more will return from their summer holidays nationally to fines of up to £100.
The first data after the government brought in new rules allowing parents to be fined shows more than 1,100 fixed penalty fines have been imposed and 11,500 fast-track prosecutions instituted since September.
The government gave local education authorities controversial new powers to tackle truancy by hitting parents in the pocket and taking them to court if they do not pay up.
Schools are now allowed to fine parents if they take their children away on holiday during term time or if their children are persistently absent.
Parents face fines of £50 each for every one of their children who misses school, doubling to £100 if not paid within 28 days.
Variation
The new data, which only covers England, released by the Department for Education and Skills, do not break the figures down into whether the fines are for persistent truancy or for term-time holidays.
But there is a massive variation in the numbers of fines issued. Manchester issued 133 fines and Liverpool 90, but Birmingham has only issued 2, between September last year and April 2005.
Some councils are determined to take a hard line by using the new powers to ensure parents do not take their children on summer holidays when they should be in class.
This week a survey showed that parents pay up to 80 per cent more for breaks during the school holidays. Alan Cogswell, the head of education welfare at Bury, Greater Manchester, said: "We will bring parents to book. If a family, every year, takes a child on holiday during school time, from the age of five-16, by the time the child finishes school they will have missed half a year of education."
Mr Cogswell said of the 30 fixed penalty notices issued in Bury since Easter, only a third had been paid, he said. In the past few weeks two families had been fined for taking their children abroad without the school's permission.
Should parents be fined for taking their children out of school for a holiday? Have your say.
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And what about the money grabbing holiday companies who exploit this situation by whacking up their prices during the school holidays?
Is that fair?
No, but if it keeps the economy ticking along then it's all right with New Labour.
When they came to power didn't they have a 'rip-off Britain' campaign to get us a better deal?
Three terms in and that has gone right down the pan.
They haven't got the guts to take on the businesses so let's get the parents and their children.
Cheers Tony
Why arent parents or children who dont take holidays in term-time be rewarded for it then perhaps more parents will take note.
Didn't notice anyone trying to fine Tony Blair when he took his kids on holiday during term time.
I agree that holidays in term time could disrupt lessons, but surely this really only applies to High Schools, where exams are always looming. Perhaps the restrictions could be relaxed on Primary Education.
Also, I understand that British resorts charge extra for school holiday times. Perhaps they should have a rethink - more people would stay in Britain, and our ecomomy would benefit as a result?
Just another small step by new labour in it's frenzied quest to criminalise the hard working tax paying public of Britain!
I feel they should be fined if they take the child out of school more than once a year but I also feel the holiday companies are entirely to blame for this as now our 4year old started school in September 04, we cannot now afford to go on holiday during the school holidays so have to go without. It it WRONG to double, sometime treble the cost of travelling anywhere in the world, not just the UK, during school holidays.
will the education department be taking action against parents who take their children out of school for up to 6 weeks during term time when they go to visit family abroad. ie to Pakistan etc. If not then I think they need to re look at their policyand take the travel industry to task about doubling their prices during school holidays
We are taking my 5 year old son to Majorca 3 days before Oct half term. We don't want to take him out of school early but we have no choice as we cannot afford to take a holiday during half term as the price was nearly B#800.00 more! Myself, my wife and son work very hard all year and deserve a break. Someone should tackle the problem of the rip off travel companies and the problem of taking kids out of school early will no longer exist!
Not everybody can afford to go on holiday in term breaks, I've looked at taking my children away during these times and I couldn't afford it. If these fines became law, then my children would never get a holiday and surely part of a childs education is discovering new places and different cultures, you can't learn that inside a classroom!
I have three grown-up children, and have taken them on low cost holdays every year during term time. I have always requested permission from their school head teachers and it has always been granted. I have only one income coming into my household so it would have been impossible to afford a break during school holidays. So far, my children have achieved, 28 GCSE's 4 A levels 1 diploma and one degree between them. Two of them are still in full time education. So I think a policy of co-operation between schools and parents would be more productive than the threat of a fine. Then a time that was least disruptive to the childs formal education could be agreed. Surely family holidays are part of our social education and enhance our motivation and ability to learn. Education is not purely about academia.
Pay B#100 fine , save over B#800 on booking during term time. Maths doesn't add up. Maybe I should have spent more time in school or am I missing something.
I'am consistently fed up of the the toothless excusable defence from parents that the kids don't lose out on their education by going on holiday in term time; they DO!!! What's more important, having qualifications, a job and a life or having lazy layabout kids who aren't qualified, have left school, who laze about on benefits looking after kids of their own and condones truancy habits onto their children? Parents who say the latter are LAZY AND IRRESPONSIBLE TRUANCY MORONS THEMSELVES!!!
Anthony, if i take my child out of school 3 days before half term he will end up a benefit claiming layabout! Get a grip man, as well as a life! As i pointed out in my previous comments maybe you should aim your anger at the travel companies who take advantage of people who have children!
Whilst I agree that children should be given the best possible chance of education you can give them. I also beleive that the travel companies take advantage of the whole school holiday situation. A lot of people don't manage to go on holiday every year (as they cannot afford it) and I am sure that most people would choose to take their children on holiday in the school holidays if they could. I think most people usually work out the holidays so their children miss as little schooling as possible and ensure that they do not miss any important tests/exams. If the travel companies were forced to keep their prices low a lot of parents would quite happily take their children on holiday within the schools holidays. This is a two way thing. You can't threaten fines but then also put up the prices of school holiday time holidays.
Who says travel companies put up the prices in school holidays? maybe they just reduce prices in term time? anyway its all supply and demand.
My parents were teachers, and as such I never missed any school for holidays. We even had to miss family occasions because they couldn't get time off.
The fact is every time a child misses school for whatever reason they miss out on something everyone else learnt. Either they lose this forever, or the teacher has to spend extra time with them to compensate before they can move on. which affects the amount of time they can spend with the rest of the class. Or they have to change lesson plans to work around it.
And unless we do something to stop it now it will become more acceptable, and widespread and the negative affect on every childs education will increase.
If your kids are super intelligent and can catch up then maybe try thinking about what affect your holiday is having on the other kids.
I also think every case is different - two weeks in benidorm eating burger and chips should not be taken during term time. However if one year out of five you miss a couple of days at the beginning or end of term to experience another culture, and learn about geography, nature, language the postive probably start to out weigh the negatives.
Parents shouldn't be taking their children out of school but I doubt this will stop them.
Holiday companies raise their prices by far more than the B#50 fine when the school holidays are on. It's a shame parents seem to think an annual holiday is more important than their child lagging behind at school because it's not just missing those days that is the problem - they then can't follow what's going on for quite a while afterwards as well.
They could always have a few day trips in the school holidays instead of going abroad. If these parents don't see perfect attendance at school as a priority they can't really expect their children to think school's that important either.
Well, if I owned a coach company (which I don't) I would NOT allow ANY children to come on my company's coach daytrips/holidays and outings within termtime with or without parents or families to totally standby and reinforce heavily the crackdown on truancy and keep the kids in check AND in class.
Anthony, If you have any kids I feel so sorry for them. Not because you obviously would be very strict about absences, but because of the amount of rubbish you talk which they must endure...... If you don't have kids then butt out it doesn't concern you.
This is one of the most rediculous things I've ever heard of. A family should not have to submit to the rulings of the education system on how to raise their own children. If the kids still make the grades, I dont see any problem. What happens also if a family is moving schools, or chooses to home-school?
C'mon, its only another way this New Labour screw them for all their worth government has of raising a few quid. Lets face it drivers, drinkers, smokers, home owners (any type, rented or bought) people who protect themselves by insuring their lives and property so that they don't become a burden when things gor wrong are just getting hammerd either through legislation or more direct forms of tax. It won't be long before they tax local dialect and god forbid the opinion tax. This is not about getting kids into school, it's about money you can guarentee some stats have already been done to project how much each authority should raise and a similar value deducted from the local budget. You will be more likly fined by a cash strapped authority than by one with adequate funds. This is not about school attendance it's about money, not a lot left to tax in this over regulated country of ours, strictly speaking were alraedy taxed for breathing (by default) and toilet paper is taxed so whats next...? chewing your nails...! No doubt New Labour(ious) will give more powers to local government to employ the unemployable, they can check to see if you have been biting your nails and if you have well a B#50 on the spot fine and then we might have the real spot fine for having a spot. Maybe if this bunch of morons we refer to as the government were a little brighter they would understand the learning opportunity children have when on holiday in foreign lands or is it more true to suggest they don't want average hard working families to take holidays in countries where their people are free. Some people still say "it's a free country" nah, nah it's not this country is no more free that the post war communist eastern block and thats a fact.
no i dont think parents should be fined for taking their children out of school... i disagree!!! some parents cant go during school hoidays, eg, because of money for example, so they give the child opportunity of holiday during term time when it i cheaper. I personally think this is fine
Jail the parents, education is more important than a fortnight in march!