Hampshire County Council made £190,000 in a year from student absence fines

FINING parents for unauthorised pupil absences made Hampshire County Council nearly £190,000 in the last academic year.

With summer around the corner and inflation increasing flight and accommodation prices – which are already much higher during holiday times – many parents take their children out of school during term-time, writes Natalia Forero of the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Parents face having to pay fines for an unauthorised absence of five days within a 10-week period, which may be issued as an alternative to prosecution through the courts.

Last year, the county council received £189,387 in penalties for non-attendance.

The authority states: “In line with national penalty notices regulations (Reg. 23), the money paid in penalties is used to issue and enforce penalty notices and prosecute recipients who do not pay.

“Penalty notices are only issued as a last resort after all other measures have been exhausted.”

Some examples of unauthorised absences can include pupils staying at home caring for a sick parent or another family member, problems with transport, and days off for birthdays, shopping trips or family holidays.

According to Hampshire County Council guidelines, “if your children’s attendance and punctuality fail, the local authority has a statutory duty to consider legal actions to enforce school attendance.”

In the first instance, if a child has an “ongoing pattern of unauthorised absence”, parents will likely receive a written warning of the possibility of a penalty notice.

If there are no signs of improvement, a notice will be issued.

Fines of £60 per parent/carer for periods of unauthorised absence can be posted to your home or delivered to you by hand, and should be paid within 21 days. If paid after 21 days but within 28 days, the penalty is £120.

Those who fail to pay may be taken through the courts, and additional legal action could be taken for multiple absences, even where fines are paid.

Once penalty notices have been issued, there is no statutory right of appeal.

According to the Department for Education, in the last published figure in 2021/2022 Hampshire recorded 92.8% attendance compared with 92.4% nationally.