'I paid a term-time holiday fine as my son can't cope with crowds'

"My son doesn't do well in large crowds," says Sarah, who paid a £320 fine for taking her two children on holiday with her partner during school term time.

Sarah's 10-year-old son, Tyler, has autism and ADHD, and struggles to cope with large groups of tourists during the school holidays.

It means Sarah has to choose between avoiding popular destinations, or visiting them in the quieter periods during the school term.

Schools and councils say children should not be out of class during term time, but Sarah says the holiday crowds "would be too much" for Tyler.

In July 2024, the family from Leicestershire went on holiday to Turkey during the summer term, which meant the children missed six days of school.

Sarah says she has even considered home-educating her children, adding: "I feel like I don't have full responsibility for them, the fact I can't pull them out of school for a holiday."

Leicestershire County Council says it offers advice to parents to "minimise the impact that missed school days can have on a child's education".

However, Sarah says her family's trip to Turkey was educational.

"The kids got to learn about all sorts of Turkish culture, Turkish food, Turkish currency," she says. "But that doesn't mean anything, because I'm neglecting my children because I took them out of school."

For many families, cost benefits also play a huge part in the decision to take holidays during term time, with trips often costing thousands more during the school holidays.

A record 356,181 school holiday fines were issued in England during the 2022-2023 academic year, three times as many as when the government started recording figures in 2016-17.

Figures due to be published on Thursday will tell us if the upward trend is continuing.

In August 2024, the Department for Education (DfE) introduced a new national framework to bring councils more in line with each other. However, it says it is the local authority's responsibility to decide when to issue fines to parents.

The government says, in most cases, schools and local authorities will try to provide support to help improve a child's attendance – but if this is ineffective or the absence is for an unauthorised term-time holiday, parents may face a fine.

According to DfE guidelines issued in August 2024:

• Schools must consider fines if a child misses five or more days unauthorised
• Fines rose from £60 to £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days
• If a parent gets a second fine for the same child in three years, it costs £160 immediately
• For a third unauthorised absence, other action like prosecution is considered. A court appearance could result in a fine of up to £2,500.

The DfE says money from fines goes to the local authority.

Doncaster Council issued the highest number of fines per 1,000 pupils of any local authority in England in 2022-2023, with 149.

Katy Taylor-Clarke, principal at The Laurel Academy in Mexborough, near Doncaster, says "it's a big issue".

The school employs two attendance officers who spend all day phoning and visiting the parents of children who do not show up in the morning.

In a bid to help parents try to find cheaper holidays, schools across Doncaster have moved their Easter holidays a week earlier this year.

"Some of the frustration lies with the travel companies who inflate the prices," says Miss Taylor-Clarke.

"But ultimately, children need to be in school.

"As a general rule of thumb, we won't authorise a term-time holiday. We have to be consistent, because it's not fair if we fine some parents and not others."

Paul Whiteman, general secretary at the National Association of Head Teachers, says fines are a "crude tool, and do not address more complex underlying causes of absence".

To improve attendance, he says there needs to be more support for children with special educational needs, as well as more investment in community services, mental health support and social care.

School leaders are also in a difficult position, he says, because there are no national guidelines on what the "exceptional circumstances" are in which schools can give pupils time off.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said "we need a national effort to tackle the epidemic of school absence", adding fines have a "vital place in our system, so everyone is held accountable" for ensuring children are in school.

"When children miss school unnecessarily, all children suffer, as teachers' attention is diverted to helping them catch back up, and we will not apologise for ensuring every child is in school accessing high and rising standards so they can achieve and thrive," she said.