New research has revealed vast differences in the number of truancy fines handed out by local authorities in England and Wales.
The most aggressive council, Essex County Council, imposed 35,605 fines for unauthorised school absences – which cost parents up to £160 – between 2022 and 2024, according to Confused.com.
Meanwhile, the most relaxed council, Denbighshire County Council, imposed just four.
In fact, far fewer fines were imposed across Wales (2,762) than England (873,062). That equates to a fine for every 65 people in England, compared with every 1,134 people in Wales.
Here you can see the 10 councils that handed out the most and fewest fines…
The insurance site found nearly two in five parents whose child has had an unauthorised absence admitted to taking them on holiday, saving an average of £567 on travel costs – rising to more than £1,000 for 16% of them.
Some 27% of parents have received a fine for doing so.
“I would do it again because the hike in prices for term-time versus non-term-time holidays is crazy,” said Joanne, from Cambridge, who took her two daughters, aged eight and 12, out of school for the last three days of term in July 2024.
She was fined £80 for allowing them to travel with their grandfather to visit their father at his home in Singapore, a trip that lasted 15 days in total.
“They don’t see him throughout the year, so I think that’s valuable in itself, and then if you’re going on a holiday to see a different kind of culture, I think there’s education to be had in that,” she said.
Almost half (48%) of those surveyed who were fined said they would do it again.
‘Severe consequences’
“With prices often soaring outside of term time, some parents are weighing up the potential cost of a fine against the savings they can make by travelling off-peak,” Alvaro Iturmendi, travel insurance expert at Confused.com, said.
“But if this is something that is happening repeatedly, then councils could take legal action. So while the savings could seem worth it, the consequences could be far more severe than you realise.”
Councils in England can fine each parent £80 for absences, doubling if it’s not paid within 21 days.
If a parent receives a second fine for the same child within three years, this will be charged at the higher rate of £160.
In Wales, councils can fine each parent £60, doubling if it’s not paid within 28 days.
It’s the responsibility of local authorities to decide when to issue fines, meaning the process varies from council to council.
Under national rules, a fine must be considered when a child has missed five days of school for unauthorised reasons.
If they are off school three or more times within three years, the parent/s can be taken to court, where they could face a £2,500 fine, a community order or a jail sentence of up to three months.
Scotland and Northern Ireland do not issue fines, though parents could still face legal action.
Regular unauthorised absences could see parents fined up to £1,000 by a court. In Scotland, they could face up to a month in prison.
Read more:
UK-US trade talks ‘moving in positive way’, says White House
M&S tells agency workers to stay at home after cyberattack
“Poor attendance damages children’s prospects and term-time holidays place the burden on teachers to support missed learning – affecting the entire class,” a Department for Education spokesperson warned.
“That’s why fines have a vital place in our system, so everyone is held accountable for ensuring our children are in school.”
Yet a third of people surveyed said they believed travel was just as important as formal education (33%), that parents should have more freedom to decide (31%) and that schools should have more discretion to approve term-time holidays (35%).
You can find more information on absence rules and Confused.com’s truancy fine calculator here.
