Parents to be fined £60 if their child is late for class
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Loading... - CRISTIAN CASTILLO
- 12 May 2020
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Parents whose children are late for school could be looking at hefty fines or even prison sentences, it has been revealed.
Schools will even be allowed to fine parents £120 – halved if they pay within 21 days – under new rules.
In Southend, Essex, there have been reports of late-gate patrols where a council officer questioned a parent as to why they were late.
Last year 64,000 fixed penalty notices were issued after Labour legislated in 2003 that parents could fine parents of regular truants while the coalition government scrapped a discretionary power to allow children 10 days off.
But this latest step takes into account those who are not just absent, but also those who are late.
Hampshire schools wrote to their parents face fines if their child is late more than 10 times a term while in Islington, north London it is 12 times in six weeks.
Schools can exercise discretion and doctor or dentist appointments would count as an exceptional circumstance.
Margaret Morrissey, from Parents Outloud, told the Daily Mail: ‘For some families, the money they will be fined will be very important to them and it will be the children who lose out.
Anne Jones, Southend’s councillor for children and learning, said: ‘We do not want to be prosecuting parents but we also want children to be in school and there comes a time where we have no further options.’
