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):
5. County Durham
Durham issued 2,518 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year -which initially seems like quite a jump. However, this is the equivalent of just 4% of its more than 63 thousand enrolled pupils. | Adobe Stock
6. Northumberland
Northumberland issued 1,545 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. This is the equivalent of about 4.1% of its nearly 38 thousand enrolled pupils. | Calum Smith/Adobe Stock
7. Newcastle
Newcastle issued 1,971 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. This is the equivalent of about 5.4% of its nearly 37 thousand enrolled pupils. | Duncan Andison/Adobe Stock
8. Darlington
Darlington issued 99 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. This is the equivalent of about 6.9% of its more than 14 thousand enrolled pupils. | Adobe Stock