Over 440,000 parents fined for taking kids on holiday during term time in 2023/24 – a 24 per cent increase from previous year

443,322 parents were issued with penalty notices in the 2023/2024 academic year due to unauthorised family holiday absences during term time.

This comes as the Department for Education published statistics today (30 January) about parental responsibility measures for attendance in England, used by schools and local authorities to improve poor attendance in schools.

The total number of penalty notices (PNs) for unauthorised absences issued in 2023/2024 was 487,344, meaning 91 per cent of penalty notices issued were due to unauthorised family holidays.

In academic year 2022/23, 356,181 penalty notices were issued due to term-time holidays. This increased by 24 per cent in 2023/2024.

The total number of penalty notices (PNs) for unauthorised absences issued 487,344 in 2023/24 academic year. Other reasons for penalty notices being issued included students being late and the remainder were issued for ‘other’ unauthorised circumstances.

Responding to this data, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union, the NAHT said: “It is very clear that the overwhelming majority of unauthorised leave is as a result of families taking holiday during term time.

“The fact that the figures have continued to increase suggest that the current approach simply is not working. It is clear that for many families the threat of a fine is not acting as a significant deterrent in the way the government hoped it would.

“This is largely due to the exorbitant charges for holidays outside of term time. We have long-argued that fines are a blunt tool for tackling this issues and the data appears to bear this out once again.

“Perhaps now is the time for the government to try a different approach. Whilst it may be challenging to do, that surely must involve working with travel companies to address the underlying cause of the problem.

“The variation in how different local authorities approach this issue clearly needs addressing too. It is only fair and right that we treat families the same when it comes to holidays in term time, wherever they live in the country.”