Derbyshire mum calls for a debate in parliament on children's school absence rules
More than 120,000 people have signed the petition
A Derbyshire mum’s petition to allow children time off during the school term – without parents being fined – has been signed by more than 107,000 people, possibly securing a debate in Parliament.
More than 3,000 people across Derbyshire have backed Natalie Elliott’s online petition titled: “Allow parents to take their children out of school for up to 10 days fine free.”
The sheer number of backers, now having reached six figures, means the topic is to be considered for debate at the House of Commons by politicians.
New legislation, in place since September 2024, allows local councils to fine each parent up to £80 when their child is off school. If a child is off school three or more times within three years, parents will not be automatically fined but may be taken to court where they can be fined up to £2,500, receive a community order, a parenting order or a jail sentence of up to three months. This is an increase in the cost of fines to previous rules in place.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request was recently made to Derby City Council asking how many fines had been issued to parents over the last five academic years, as well as how much money had been raised.
It showed that since the 2020/21 academic year, the council has issued 12,494 fines across the city, averaging at 2,499 per year. Assuming each fine represents an individual child, this means the parents of around one in four children across Derby have been handed fines, with the 2022/23 spring census recording 45,731 school-age children across the city.
The petition states: “We’re seeking reform to the punitive policy for term time leave that disproportionately impacts families that are already under immense pressure and criminalises parents that we think are making choices in the best interests of their families. No family should face criminal convictions!”
At time of writing, the petition had been signed by more than 3,400 people living in Derbyshire with more than 800 of the petitioners living in the Amber Valley area.
Ms Elliott, from Ripley, is leading the campaign to reform the “punitive” policy that prevents parents from taking their children out of school during term time. She said: “Even though the Department for Education (DfE) insist that every school day matters, and all parents would agree that education is important, they don’t seem to consider that sometimes life happens.
“There are children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), some children have mental health problems and some families have relatives far away. Sometimes these absences need to be taken for the benefit of the child – but the strict new laws that were introduced in August have caused schools to become far less lenient, but that all comes from the pressures above the DfE.”
The Department for Education has responded to the petition. The statement notes: “Absence is one of the biggest barriers to success for children and young people, and has soared post-pandemic.
“It is one of the greatest barriers to opportunity and supporting children to achieve. The most recent DfE data shows that any increase in absence is associated with dramatic reductions in attainment – children who attend school every day are twice as likely to achieve good GCSEs compared to those who miss two weeks of school a year. It is not just those who are absent who are impacted.
“A steady churn of absences disrupts the learning of every child disrupting teachers’ ability to plan and sequence learning. It also has a significant detrimental impact on the hard work of school staff to cultivate a sense of community and belonging.”
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