The North West saw enormous variation in how many families were fined for taking term-time holidays by council area, in a record-breaking year for parents.
New government figures released last month showed that the total number of fines issued for unauthorised absences shot up by 22% during the last school year (2023/24), with 91% of them being for family holidays when children were supposed to be at school. The reason behind unauthorised absence fines only started being recorded in 2016/17, and this year’s number of fines issued for term-time holidays was three times higher than when records began - meaning that it has hit a record level.
Last year, the Government increased the amount parents could fined for unauthorised absences from £60 to £80 in a bid to curb this behaviour, for young people’s own good. However, the change took effect in mid-August, meaning that parents fined during the last school year would have been charged the previous rate.
We’ve taken a look at each of the local authorities responsible for schools across the North West, from the Greater Manchester region, to Lancashire, to Cheshire, to Merseyside, to see which area’s parents received the most fines for letting their children skip school for often cheaper holidays. To do this, we compared how many fines the council had issued with how many students aged 5-16 were on local rolls.
Under the new rules local authorities now have to consider fining parents who take their children out of school for a term-time holiday, but it’s worth noting that this was not always the case. The Warrington Borough Council previously did not fine parents for unauthorised holidays - and has been excluded from the data - while some other councils issued exceptionally low numbers.
Here’s how they did, from best (the lowest rate), to worst (the highest):
13. Wirral
Wirral issued 3,294 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. This is the equivalent of 7.7% of its nearly 43 thousand enrolled pupils. | Adobe Stock
14. Bury
Bury issued 2,171 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. This is the equivalent of 8.2% of its more than 26 thousand enrolled pupils. | Adobe Stock
15. Lancashire
Lancashire issued a whopping 13,330 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. But this is the equivalent of just 8.2% of its massive 162 thousand enrolled pupils. | Adobe Stock
16. Manchester
Manchester issued 7,421 family holiday fines in the 2023/24 school year. This is the equivalent of 8.9% of its 83 thousand enrolled pupils. | Adobe Stock