More fines are being handed out to parents in the UK who take their children on holiday during term time.
Instances of fines being levied for the autumn term increased by 70% last year to nearly 5,300 in just 34 out of England’s 152 councils, according to research by the BBC.
Liverpool City Council had one of the biggest jumps in the number of parents being fined, with 250 demands in autumn 2013 compared to 97 the previous autumn.
Head teachers are now less able to use their discretion when parents want to take their children for a term-time break. Instead they can do so only in “exceptional circumstances”.
An e-petition has had nearly 170,000 signatures in support of parents not being criminalised for avoiding the high charges which are demanded in peak holiday periods.
The petition gave rise to a debate in Parliament. MPs supported the suggestions from industry associations, including the idea that schools could stagger term times.
The Department for Education said that schools are being given the autonomy to fix their own term dates, but it was up to parents to ask school “to consider changes to term and holiday dates that will work for pupils and their families”.
