Fines for parents fail to cut truancy
Laura McCardle
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Tough government fines designed to clamp down on truancy are proving ineffective, a schools expert has said.
Karen Hawkins, assistant director of Family Action, told CYP Now that the fines are “a blunt instrument for a complex issue that fails to address why children are not attending school”.
Her comments come as the latest school attendance figures reveal that the number of persistent truants in the 2012/13 academic year remained static despite the launch of the Troubled Families scheme and a government crackdown on holiday absences.
Figures from the Department for Education show that in the autumn 2012 and spring 2013 school terms the truancy rate was 4.9 per cent, the same as for the 2011/12 school year. The previous year, the rate had fallen from 7.2 to 4.9 per cent.
Parents whose children persistently truant or take unauthorised holiday have to pay a £60 fine.
They have 21 days to pay the fine, after this it doubles and parents then have seven more days to pay before being taken to court, where they can face a fine of up to £2,500 or imprisonment.
Hawkins said the plateauing of the truancy rates suggest fines aren't working. She wants councils to work with families, schools and police to develop an effective plan that ensures regular attendance of all schoolchildren.
Half of educational welfare officers said truancy rose during the 2012/13 academic year.
In addition, more than 10,000 parents were convicted for failing to ensure their child attended school during the same time frame.
Around 333,850 children were persistently absent from school during the 2011/12 academic year.
Click here to read CYP Now's special report on truancy or see the current issue of the magazine.
