{"id":195833,"date":"2023-12-14T11:15:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T11:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=195833"},"modified":"2023-12-14T11:15:24","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T11:15:24","slug":"term-time-holidays-drive-record-unauthorised-school-absence-fines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/term-time-holidays-drive-record-unauthorised-school-absence-fines\/","title":{"rendered":"Term-time holidays drive record unauthorised school absence fines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The number of fines issued to parents for unauthorised school absence has rocketed to its highest level on record, resuming a trend seen before the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data published by the Department for Education today<\/a> shows 398,796 penalty notices for unauthorised absence were issued in 2022-23. This is up from 218,235 last year and higher than the 333,388 in pre-pandemic 2018-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s data shows the vast majority (89 per cent) of absence fines issued last year were for unauthorised family holiday absence, up slightly from 86 per cent before the pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of fines for this reason has increased from 288,239 in 2018-19 to 356,181 last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It comes after research by Public First identified a \u201cradical shift in the way term time holidays are viewed, and the scale at which they are being taken\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During focus groups, parents across all social groups \u201ctalked openly about taking their children on holiday during termtime, and those that did not were very sympathetic to it\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been a “seismic shift in parental attitudes to school attendance”, the report concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes amid widespread concern in the education sector about attendance more generally, which has not recovered since Covid lockdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021-22, the overall absence rate was 7.6 per cent, much higher than the pre-pandemic norm of around 4.5 per cent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absences have remained stubbornly high since then, at 7.5 per cent in 2022-23. So far this term, the rate sits at 6.4 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the rise in the number of fines, the number of parenting orders made by the courts following prosecution for unauthorised absence fell from 38 in 2021-22, to 30 in 2022-23. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These orders require parents to attend counselling or guidance sessions and to comply with specified requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, number of education supervision orders \u2013 which councils must consider applying for before prosecuting parents – increased from 33 to 46.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost 400,000 penalties were issued by councils last year, DfE data shows<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":71731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[28,239],"post-theme":[2524],"class_list":["post-195833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dfe","tag-education-policy","post-theme-attendance"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t