Shropshire parents fined more than £50,000 for term time holidays

Fines totalling £51,060 were dished out in the last school year from September 2015 to July this year, Freedom of Information requests to Telford & Wrekin Council and Shropshire Council have revealed.

That figures rises to £164,160 when fines for the past three school years – dating back to September 2013 – are taken into account.

Taking children out of school for a term time holiday is only allowed with the permission of an individual school or its headteacher.

Each parent is charged £60 per child per unauthorised absence. After 21 days the amount doubles to £120 if it has not been paid, then they have a further seven days.

In total, £38,760 was paid in fines for unauthorised holidays by parents in Telford & Wrekin in 2015/16, while in Shropshire the figure was £12,300.

Telford & Wrekin Council also handed out fines for recurring or random absences over a period of time. Parents were fined £1,440 for any 10-half day absences in a 15-day period of time over the past three years.

In Shropshire, parents were charged £3,000 over the past three school years for unauthorised absences thought not to be holidays.

Telford parents were also fined £420 over the past three school years when an excluded child was seen in public. There were no such fines in Shropshire.

The most high profile example of parents being fined was when Telford couple Stewart and Natasha Sutherland were ordered by magistrates to pay a £1,000 fine for taking their children on an unauthorised week-long holiday on the Greek island of Rhodes in September 2013.

Chris Kowalik, spokesman for Telford & Wrekin Council, said: "The decision to not authorise a leave in term time request from parents is taken by the headteacher of the school or an academy and not the council.

"The school or academy will then refer the case to the council, and if all strict criteria, in line with the code of conduct, is met the council may issue the penalty notice fine.

"If the fine is not paid the council must take further action which may result in legal proceedings against the parent, similarly to an unpaid speeding fine.

"The council's policy on school attendance has been developed to reflect not only current legislation but the national and local priority of raising the educational achievement and attainment of pupils.

"The Government's view is that parents should not take their children out of school during term time and changes in legislation in September 2013 clearly indicate that absences during the term time can only be authorised by headteachers in exceptional circumstances."

Christine Kerry, education access service manager for Shropshire Council, said: "It is known that missing school for any reason can cause a child to fall behind in their learning. Sometimes children will find it difficult to settle back into school after a break.

"When children are taken out of school during the term time not only does the education of the individual child suffer, but it can cause disruption to the rest of the class with teachers having to repeat work and give extra help so that the pupil can catch up.

"If a child goes on holiday in term time or takes leave of absence for other reasons without permission from the school the absences will be marked in the school register as unauthorised absences and this may result in a penalty notice of £60 (rising to £120) per parent per child being issued by the council.

"It is pleasing to note that the number of penalty notices issued is decreasing. This is because there has been a substantial reduction in sessions of unauthorised leave of absence taken since 2014."