Fines for kids skipping school to go up by a third

Fixed penalty notices can be issued for missing 10 or more half-days in a 10-week period

Fines for the unauthorised absence of school children – including holidays in term time – are to go up by a third in Warwickshire.

A national framework from the Department for Education (DfE) aims to achieve consistency between education authorities in relation to how absences are dealt with.

A first fixed penalty notice is currently £120 in Warwickshire, reduced to £60 if paid within 21 days.

An updated local code of conduct for school attendance, which increases the fines to £160 and £80 respectively, has been sanctioned by the county council's cabinet.

Schools, in conjunction with the authority, can issue fixed-penalty notices for truancy, unauthorised leave of absence, "excessive delay" from a term-time holiday that has been sanctioned or persistent lateness.

They can also be issued for missing 10 or more sessions – schools have two sessions per day, so essentially a week's worth of education – in a 10-week period.

If a second fine is issued within a three-year period, the reduced rate does not apply and no further penalty notices can be issued for the same child within three years of the first.

'School's responsibility'

Subsequent cases in that timeframe must be dealt with by other means, potentially prosecution.

The new tariffs will kick in from 19 August. Fines issued in relation to previous absence periods will be charged at the old rates.

Lib Dem councillor Sarah Boad clarified with portfolio holder for education Kam Kaur that fines could be issued if children were taken out of school for a week-long holiday and sought assurance that parents and carers would be informed of the measures.

The Conservative councillor replied: “We have a press release going out and it is on our website.

"It is also the school's responsibility to make parents aware of what the code of conduct is."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.