Mum's school absence fines petition hits milestone

More than 100,000 people have backed a petition set up by a parent calling for children to take time off during the school term.

Derbyshire mother Natalie Elliott's online campaign for parents to be given "up to 10 days fine free" has been signed by more than 107,000 people.

Hitting the six figure mark means the topic is to be considered for debate in the House of Commons.

Legislation in place since September 2024 allows councils to fine each parent up to £80 when their child is off school, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

If a child is off school three or more times within three years, parents may be taken to court where they can be fined up to £2,500, receive a community order, a parenting order or a jail sentence of up to three months.

Ms Elliott, from Ripley, is leading the campaign to reform what she calls a "punitive" policy.

Protests were organised on Saturday in Nottingham, Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Southampton and Norwich to gather support.

She said: "Even though the Department for Education (DfE) insist that every school day matters, and all parents would agree that education is important, they don't seem to consider that sometimes life happens.

"There are children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), some children have mental health problems and some families have relatives far away.

"Sometimes these absences need to be taken for the benefit of the child – but the strict new laws that were introduced in August have caused schools to become far less lenient, but that all comes from the pressures above."

A DfE spokesperson said absence had "soared" since the pandemic and was "one of the biggest barriers to success" for children.

The spokesperson added: "The most recent DfE data shows that any increase in absence is associated with dramatic reductions in attainment - children who attend school every day are twice as likely to achieve good GCSEs compared to those who miss two weeks of school a year. It is not just those who are absent who are impacted.

"A steady churn of absences disrupts the learning of every child disrupting teachers' ability to plan and sequence learning.

"It also has a significant detrimental impact on the hard work of school staff to cultivate a sense of community and belonging."