The Labour government has been urged to ban fines and fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for parents taking children out of school for term-time holidays, following a new parliamentary petition.
The petition, posted on the Parliamentary website, calls for legislation to ban FPNs and prosecutions related to school attendance. It argues that school fines and prosecutions do not help improve attendance, describing them as a blunt and ineffective tool that fails to address root causes.
“We believe school fines & prosecutions do not help to improve school attendance. They are a blunt, ineffective tool & they do not tackle the root cause of attendance difficulties. I'm proposing the law is changed to ban FPNs & prosecutions. This will encourage collaboration rather than punishment,” the petition states.
The petition has garnered 35,000 signatures, forcing the government to respond. Petitions with 10,000 signatures require a government response, while those reaching 100,000 are debated in Parliament.
The petition highlights that FPNs reached a record high in the 2024-25 academic year, which it claims shows they are ineffective and punish families, becoming a stealth tax. It alleges that attendance legislation is being abused, with schools marking absences as unauthorised when they should be authorised, including for illness, special educational needs, and family emergencies.
“The attendance drive is driving a wedge between school and home,” the petition adds.
In a response issued on April 21, the government stated it has no plans to ban FPNs or prosecutions for non-attendance, arguing both measures are important for influencing parental behaviour when support has been exhausted or is not appropriate, such as for term-time holidays.
The government cited attendance data for 2024-25, showing unauthorised holiday absence fell from 0.53% to 0.48% and overall absence dropped by 0.37 percentage points. It noted that 93% of penalty notices issued that year were for unauthorised term-time holidays, demonstrating FPNs are used primarily where support is not appropriate, as intended by the national framework introduced in August 2024.
