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Number of parents fined over poor school attendance up 74.7%

The number of parents being fined for their children's poor attendance in school has risen by 74.7%, new figures have revealed.

Data from the Department for Education (DfE) shows an increase in the number of penalty notices issued from 149,300 in 2016/17 to 260,877 in 2017/18.

The most common reason for a penalty notice was unauthorised family holiday absence, with a total 85.4% issued for that reason in 2017/18 - up from 77.5% the previous year.

The DfE put the rise down to changes in regulations, as well as a number of high-profile court cases in the last few years.

It comes after Jon Platt lost a case at the Supreme Court in April 2017.

Mr Platt initially won a high-profile High Court case in May 2016 over taking his daughter to Disney World, Florida, during the school term without permission.

Previous figures suggest that after this ruling, many parents decided to take breaks during the school term believing it was unlikely they would face action.

But the case was later referred to the Supreme Court, where Mr Platt lost.

The DfE said it contacted some local authorities with large changes about the 2017/18 increases.

It said: "All six that responded cited that the Supreme Court judgment in this case had an effect on the number of penalty notices issued in 2017/18, either as a result of returning to pre-court case levels following a slowdown or from a change in behaviour as a result of the ruling."

The five areas with the highest rates of "unauthorised holiday" were:

:: Lancashire (7,575)
:: Bradford (6,687)
:: Hampshire (6,626)
:: Essex (6,603)
:: Derbyshire (5,567)

Parents issued with a penalty notice must pay £60 within 21 days of receipt, but that rises to £120 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days.

If the penalty is not paid in full at the end of the 28 days, the local authority must either prosecute or withdraw the notice.

Figures show 75% of penalty notices in 2017/18 were paid within 28 days, 10% were withdrawn, 7% led to prosecution and a further 8% were unresolved.

Separate date published by the DfE shows pupils who missed at least one session due to a family holiday in 2017/18 was up to 17.6% compared with 16.9% the previous year.

The authorised absence rate increased from 3.4% to 3.5% in the same period, while the unauthorised absence rate rose from 1.3% to 1.4% - the highest since records began.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said requests for time off during term time can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.

He said: "The real problem is holiday pricing. Neither parents nor schools set the prices of holidays.

"The will continue to be caught between a rock and hard police without some sensible government intervention."

A DfE spokesman said: "The education secretary has made clear persistent absence from school is a society-wide challenge that we all need to work together to resolve - and while significant progress has been made, today's data shows that has now plateaued.

"That's why the rules on term-time absences are clear: no child should be taken out of school without good reason."