Fines for parents of absent children 'penalise struggling families'
Amrit Virdi
Monday, March 11, 2024
Government plans to strengthen school attendance regulations could “penalise struggling families”, professionals working with disadvantaged children have said.
The new measures include stricter rules around fines for parents of absent children and a duty on all state schools in England to share their daily attendance registers with the Department for Education and councils.
Parents could receive penalties of £60 if paid within 21 days which can rise to £120 if paid within 28 days. If fines are not paid within this period councils can consider prosecution, and parents have no right to appeal.
CYP Now readers shared concerns about the measures on LinkedIn, with one youth worker branding the proposal as “deeply concerning" adding that "penalising parents with fines for their child's absence may exacerbate existing issues within already struggling families and communities”.
An expert in therapeutic childcare wrote: “It’s not absence, it’s avoidance, and often emotionally based avoidance”, adding that “persistent school absence cannot be tackled with fines".
A charity worker said: “Persistent school absence cannot be tackled with fines and if the government understood there is a need to genuinely support families.”
While a former children’s social worker and director of a solutions organisation wrote: “We have to get the culture right first where young people and parents find education valuable.”
The comments come as leaders at Astrea Academy Woodfields in Doncaster were accused of “snooping” on families by monitoring homes for signs families were there.
In a video posted on X, headteacher David Scales accuses “some families of making choices that are not helping your child succeed” including taking holidays in term time and leading up to the Easter break.
Scales also describes “scams” used by parents to take children out of school which involves relatives posing as staff from a doctor’s surgery.
“What parents are doing is they’re saying its an illness but actually a car is no longer in the drive, the bins are no longer moving around the house and there’s no activity in the house over a few days so we’re putting this down as an unauthorised holiday and we’re also issuing a fine,” he tells followers.
Attendance is vital to help you learn and earn, we have had record attendance this week. @MrDavidScales describes some of the things we’ve noticed this week and asks us to work together to further improve attendance. pic.twitter.com/kxyQgb7d1W
— Astrea Academy Woodfields (@AAWoodfields) February 28, 2024
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) said: “Approaches to tackling absences should not extend to snooping on families. This is a clear over-reach of how a school should behave. It will do nothing to build positive relationships with parents and students.
"Fines and other aggressive measures do not tackle the causes of absenteeism. Schools put a great many hours into tackling absence and reaching out to parents, and this must be constructive and aim to build back to regular attendance.”
In response to Scales' video on X, one person wrote: “How widespread is this problem? If it’s just a few families, why not work directly with them? If it’s lots of families, there may be a bigger underlying issue - but I’m not sure accusations about ‘scams’ and info on surveillance will solve it.”
Poor attendance at the school was highlighted by Ofsted during an inspection in January last year.
