The system of fining parents who take their children out of school during term-time is “too blunt an instrument” and “drives a wedge between schools and families”, it has been warned.
The number of penalty notices issued to address poor attendance has increased by 75 per cent year-on-year according to the latest Department for Education (DfE) figures.
In 2016/17, a total of 149,300 penalty notices were issued. This has risen sharply to 260,900 in 2017/18. The most common reason for the £60 penalty notices being issued is unauthorised family holidays.
The latest pupil absence statistics for schools in England – also published by the DfE recently – show that both authorised and unauthorised absences have increased year-on-year.
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