Amy Landsbury, a 37-year-old mother-of-two from Hull, brought her two daughters to Wales for a week-long holiday in a touring caravan. When she returned, she was slapped with a £320 fine for removing them from primary school. The trip, aimed at visiting their grandparents, has highlighted the growing financial burden on families due to steeply rising term-time holiday fines.
Over the last few years, the penalties for removing children from school during term time have skyrocketed. The initial Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) is currently set at £80 per parent per child. This represents a huge jump from the £60 registration fee in the 2023-24 academic year. If parents are fined again within three years for the same child, the fine doubles to £160. According to government regulations, each parent can be fined no more than two times in a three-year span for the same child.
In Hull, the number of parents fined for taking children out for a term time holiday has increased by over 3000%. It has gone up over 60% since the last academic year! New regulations are set to go into effect in August of 2024. Going forward, families will be issued Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) once a child has racked up ten unnecessary half-day absences or five full-day unauthorised absences.
The monetary costs of holidaying during the school holidays have likewise led to fury by parents.
“I put my case forward that my daughter would keep up with her learning while we were away because she is doing amazing at school and we knew as parents it wasn’t going to affect her learning so to hear that it went down as an unauthorised absence is disappointing but we thought we are still saving hundreds of pounds.” – Amy Landsbury
Travel agent Andrew Earle explained how families are priced out of going on holiday during peak seasons. A week-long all-inclusive package in Majorca for a family of four would be about £3,500 in high season in August. Prepare in advance, because prices jump up like crazy during this busy season! Booking the very same holiday for the middle of June would bring the cost down to just under £2,400. This amendment is a huge win, worth £1,000 of savings!
“It feels like you can’t even have a family holiday without getting a bill through from local government but then nothing is being done to cap holiday costs.” – Amy Landsbury
Her feelings are echoed by dozens of parents who say they are being punished for trying to juggle family time while accommodating their budget limitations.
Landsbury is all about the importance of family vacations. He makes the case that families should be able to take quality time together without incurring punishment.
“My husband is a lorry driver and he only gets allocated time off throughout the year so it was one of the only weeks he could have off work.” – Amy Landsbury
Her sentiments resonate with many parents who feel penalized for attempting to balance family time with budget constraints.
“It does annoy me because we weren’t jet-setting off abroad, we were just going to see family and both the girls’ grandparents are elderly.” – Amy Landsbury
Landsbury emphasizes the importance of family holidays, arguing that families should not be punished for wanting to spend time together.
“You need to have a break with your family and I don’t think people should be penalised for that.” – Amy Landsbury
