Some North East councils handed out about one unauthorised term-time holiday fine per ten children enrolled in local schools last year - while others fined next to no families at all.
New government figures released last month showed that the total number of fines issued for unauthorised absences shot up by 22% during the last school year (2023/24), with 91% of them being for family holidays when children were supposed to be at school. The reason behind unauthorised absence fines only started being recorded in 2016/17, and this year’s number of fines issued for term-time holidays was three times higher than that year’s - meaning that it has hit a record level.
Last year, the Government increased the amount parents could fined for unauthorised absences from £60 to £80 in a bid to curb this behaviour, for young people’s own good. However, the change took effect in mid-August, meaning that parents fined during the last school year would have been charged the previous rate. Under the new rules local authorities also have to consider fining parents who take their children out of school for a term-time holiday, but it’s worth noting that different councils previously had different policies.
We’ve taken a look at each of the local authorities responsible for schools across the North East, from Northumberland to County Durham, Newcastle to Hartlepool, to see which area’s parents received the most fines for letting their children skip school for all-too-often cheaper holidays. To do this, we compared how many fines the council had issued with how many students aged 5-16 were on local rolls.
Here’s how they did, from best (the lowest rate), to worst (the highest):
1. Hartlepool
Hartlepool issued just 34 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. This is the equivalent of about 0.3% of its 13 thousand enrolled pupils. | Chris Maddison/Adobe Stock
2. Sunderland
Sunderland only issued 269 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. This is the equivalent of about 0.7% of its 36 thousand enrolled pupils. | Adobe Stock
3. Gateshead
Gateshead issued 469 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. This is the equivalent of about 1.9% of its nearly 25 thousand enrolled pupils. | Hans Peter Denecke/Adobe Stock
4. North Tyneside
North Tyneside issued 1,052 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. This is the equivalent of about 3.9% of its nearly 27 thousand enrolled pupils. | Adobe Stock