Hampshire school fines total among highest in England
More than 1,800 were handed out last year
More fines were issued to parents whose children missed school in Hampshire last year, than almost anywhere else in England.
Department for Education data showed the county accounted for 2% of all penalty notices issued across the country in 2020/21.
814 of the fines were handed out for unauthorised family holidays, along with a further 24 for being later.
In addition, 946 penalty notices were given to parents in Hampshire for a child's poor attendance last year, even though children were kept away from classrooms for two months during England's third Covid lockdown in January and February.
No figures were available for 2019/20, but the number of fines has dropped 89% from the 8,946 recorded in 2018/19.
Hampshire County Council has said that it has extremely high school attendance figures, and that penalty notices are only used as a last resort.
Cllr Roz Chadd, the council's executive lead member for children's services, added:
“As the third largest shire county, with a large population, Hampshire has around 180,000 school aged pupils attending some 526 schools. Hampshire has historically seen very high levels of attendance in schools and the last published figure was 95.4 per cent attendance. Hampshire has continued to benefit from relatively high levels of attendance during the pandemic.
“Schools have worked hard with parents to reassure them of the mitigation strategies they have put in place to reduce the likelihood of Covid transmission during the pandemic.
"Penalty notices have only been issued as a last resort after all other measures have been exhausted.”
James Bowen, director of policy for school leaders’ union NAHT, said:
“Fines have always been a blunt instrument when it comes to managing persistent absenteeism, and even more so if the reasons are related to the pandemic.
"Schools will be working closely with families where persistent absenteeism is an issue to provide the necessary support to help get pupils back into school.
"The reality is that if a parent is concerned enough about their child’s safety to keep them off school, the threat of a fine is unlikely to change their minds.”
Across England, 45,800 notices were handed out to parents in 2020/21 - the lowest figure since 2011/12, and down from 334,400 in 2018/19.