200 families in Sandwell fined for taking term-time holidays
More than 200 fines were handed out to parents across Sandwell in the last school year for taking their children on holiday during term time.
Sandwell Council dished out 216 fines for unauthorised term-time holidays in 2015-16 – earning £12,960 as a result.
A Freedom of Information request has also revealed council chiefs pursued 158 prosecutions against parents for taking their children out of school without permission in the last school year.
Sandwell Councillor Preet Gill said: "Whilst I understand that to parents this might seem excessive, they need to consider the impact of taking a child out of school during term time, on the child.
She added: "We want children in Sandwell to have the best education they can, but they need to be in school for that to happen.
"If you look at the days broken down into hours, and convert that into teaching time lost, it soon adds up to a lot."
The fines, known as Education Penalty Notices, were first introduced in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 in an effort to stop children taking time off school without reason.
Parents and carers are not permitted to take their children out of school during term time, and may be fined if they don't have the school's consent.
It is up to the head teacher or principal to decide if an absence is authorised or not.
If it is not, a penalty notice will be issued, which tells the parents or carers to pay a fine of £60. This will rise to £120 if not paid within 21 days.
Data collected by law firm Simpson Millar shows that across the UK councils issued more than 114,000 fines to parents in the last academic year.
