According to the Department for Education (DfE), a nationwide framework will be implemented from the beginning of the 2024–2025 school year “to help tackle inconsistencies” in the fees that educational institutions charge for unapproved absences. If a kid misses five days of school, all parents will be assessed the penalty.
According to the DfE, the price of a fine will increase from £60 to £80 if it is paid within 21 days and from £120 to £160 if it is paid within 28 days.
However, Daniel Kebede, national secretary of the National Education Union, stated that increasing fines on parents was “not the answer,” particularly in light of the current cost of living issue, and that doing so would “simply plunge them into debt.”
“There is no evidence that fining parents improves attendance,” he stated. “It simply drives young people out of the system.”
Additional steps in the department’s plan call for all state schools in England to share their registrations with the DfE, councils, and trusts, among other parties, in order to build a database that will aid in identifying patterns.
