Wolverhampton parents fined £54k over term-time holidays
More than 1,100 parents with children at Wolverhampton state schools have been fined £54,000 in three years for taking unauthorised family holidays during term time.
Those hit in the pocket for the 'crime' soared from 125 to 698-a-year between 2012 and 2015 while the annual take from fines rocketed from £5,760 to £34,140 amid a Government crackdown.
A total of 61 families were taken to court for refusing to pay over the same period.
Details disclosed by Wolverhampton City Council in response to a Freedom of Information request show that in 2012/13 8,579 days of teaching were missed by pupils away on unauthorised family holidays during term time, when holidays abroad are cheaper. That increased to 10,691 during the following 12 months.
The amount of class time missed by families given permission for their children to skip lessons for the same reason during the identical period stood at 46,000 days but fell from 33,717 to 12,383-a-year as strict new Government policy rules to punish parents over practice began to bite.
Comparative totals for 2014/15 are not yet available because of gaps in data caused by the number of schools converting to academy status during that period.
The Government decision to get tough also explains the massive jump in the total number of families hit in the pocket between 2013 and last year.
The figure rose from 317 to 698 while the number of fines issued jumped from £14,580 to £34,140.
In 2013, former Education Secretary Michael Gove ended the right for schools to grant up to 10 days holiday per year for pupils.
New guidelines stated children should only be taken out of school during term-time if it was an 'exceptional circumstance'. Those that take children out without permission can be fined £60 per child, rising to £120 if it is not paid in 21 days.
Failure to pay the fine can result in prosecution, with a maximum fine – if convicted – of £2,500 or a jail sentence of up to three months.
Attendance at Wolverhampton Primary Schools stood at 94.6 per cent in 2012/13 rising to 95.7 per cent the following year, the last for which information is available. The figures for the city's Secondary Schools over the same period were slightly lower at 93.6 per cent and 94.5 per cent respectively.
Wolverhampton Council spokesman Paul Brown said: "The council wants the best possible education for children and for this to happen, they need to be attending school at all times unless there are exceptional circumstances."
