The Isle of Wight Council made more than £100,000 from fining parents and carers whose children had unauthorised absences last year.
Despite the number of truancy penalty notices (TPN) issued on the Island dropping, more people have failed to pay them, resulting in legal action being taken.
In 2018/19, 97 cases went to court because parents and carers failed to pay the £120 fine in 28 days.
A Freedom of Information request by The Knowledge Academy found the council received £105,420 from fines, paid before and after the 28 days.
In 2017/18, 2,030 TPNs were given to parents and carers of students compared to 1,920 in 2018/19.
Fines for a child skipping school without authorisation start at £60 if paid within 21 days but rise if they are not paid within 28 days or longer and parents are threatened with a £1,000 fine in court.
Although not every court case ends in fines — parents have previously been given community orders and conditionally discharged sentences.
A total of 211 people failed to pay the fine in 21 days in 2018/19 compared to only 65 the year before.
UPDATE – An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson has said:
“We are committed to securing high attendance from all pupils and take our statutory responsibility in this area very seriously.
“The local authority issues penalty notices on behalf of headteachers and it is a head teacher’s decision as to whether to authorise term-time leave. The law allows them to do so if they deem it to be in ‘exceptional circumstances’.
“The council is not allowed to make any profit from fine income. The proceeds contribute to the legal costs of issuing penalty notices and other work related to promoting good school attendance.
“The DfE has issued guidance on attendance and the Isle of Wight Council has a statutory duty to implement it in full.
“The council recognises that regular attendance at school is essential for pupils’ learning and attainment and creates more opportunities for their future. We continue to urge parents to ensure that their children maintain a high level of school attendance.”
Note: A total of 229 people failed to pay the fine in 21 days in 2017/18 , not 65 as reported.
Thank you to those parents who contributed money for the benefit of Island services. Let’s hope it didn’t all go in legal expenses!
The council aka the legalized Mafia
Someone has to pay for the nere do wells, who only ‘take’ out of society, and, that someone will by you by stealth taxes.
Bloody joke!!! Shouldn’t be told when you can take your OWN kids out of school!! Hope that 100k gets put back in too the schools!!
fining parents is a sledgehammer to crack a nut and it is a ridiculous idea.
why…
wealthy parents whose kids go to private schools are exempt from the whole fines structure for taking them out of school in term time – doesn’t apply to them. Terms are shorter anyhow – they can do what they want.
wealthier parents who use state schools, take kids out of school on purpose, as their holidays are cheaper during term time – this means the cost of the holiday, plus the fine, is less than the price of the holiday in the school holidays – no brainer for these parents – they just pay it, as it works in their favour.
wealthier parents using state schools, who provide higher levels of an allowance “pocket money” to their kids, will enhance it, if they go to school to a level that is a bit less than the fine – no brainer – kids go to school, parents costs are less overall.
wealthier parents kid cannot be arsed going to state school that day – parent shrugs shoulders, pays fine – easier than arguing with kid and they
have better things to do.
parents of children who are on low incomes, or on benefits who have no other option than to argue with their kids about school, get fined, get debt collection, court appearances and stress and they cannot afford to take them on holiday. ALL BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE THE CASH TO TAKE UP ANY OF THE OTHER OPTIONS ABOVE.
This is an unfair practice and should really be stopped.
The correct way, would be to apply the attendance requirement to private schools as well and then indicate that non attendance of the child
may result in the parents being made to carry out community service in their own time instead of a fine. That way, all are treated equally irrespective of financial status.
Makes me laugh can give out the fines for absences yet has left my son without a school and uneducated for 3 years….
It’s amusing that media school is closed to accommodate the music festival, sending the kids home…….but then that’s business eh!
This is ridicules and should be stopped.
This is just another income stream for the council and no wonder they are so keen to enforce it.
Some children are so far out of control the parents are held to account for children who will not do what they are told. You can deliver your children to school but if they just leave, you have no control and then you are liable for their actions.
I have heard of children blackmailing their parents as they have the ability to cause fines and problems for parents to get their own way. This is empowering already out of control kids and should be stopped.
You can bet that the truancy figures haven’t changed much since before this legal robbery started happening.
The fine should also be applied to teachers who go on strike thus taking themselves out of school without authorization. Also the parents and teachers of the kids who go on strike using the excuse of attending a climate change demonstration.
More money for the council to waste
Schools won’t benefit that’s for sure