A council reportedly planning to fine parents £1,000 for taking children out of school to take holidays in term time could be in breach of the law.
Lancashire County Council, which has issued more term-time holiday penalty notices than almost any other council, was said to be considering the plan.
However, The Times reported Whitehall officials as saying the plans appeared “out of tune” with a law passed in March 2013 that “provides that the amount of the penalty to be paid is £60 if paid within 28 days of receipt of the notice; and £120 if paid within 42 days of receipt of the notice”.
Parents in England and Wales have been fined a total of £24 million in the three years to 2016-17.
Lancashire imposed 7,575 fines last year, up from 6,876 in 2016-17, suggesting that its policy has had little impact in deterring parents from taking term-time holidays.
Unauthorised absence in England is at its highest since records began. The most recent government figures show that one in six students —16.9% — missed at least half a day of school in 2016-17 for a family holiday, up from 14.7% the previous year.
The increase in holidays coincided with a legal battle involving Jon Platt, from the Isle of Wight, who took his daughter out of school for a holiday in Florida.
In May 2016 the High Court backed a ruling by magistrates who said that he should not have to pay a fine. But the Supreme Court reversed the ruling in April 2017.
While the case was unresolved, councils reined-in the number of fines they issued, fearing parents would not pay while proceedings were under way. The number of parents being fined for taking their children out of school without permission fell by 5.4%, from 157,879 in 2015-16 to 149,321 in 2016-17. That reversed a six-year upward trend. More than three-quarters of those fines were for holidays.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “No child should be taken out of school without good reason. The rules on term-time absences are clear and we have put schools back in control by supporting them — and local authorities — to use their powers to deal with unauthorised absence.”
Critics of Lancashire’s plan, reported in The Sunday Times, said that there was little to suggest that a week-long holiday in term time did any harm, especially in the early years.
Travel companies have also been criticised by charging up to three times as much for flights and hotels in school holidays.