Increasing numbers of Suffolk parents fined for allowing children to miss school amid suggestions more families are prepared to risk penalty to take cheaper term-time holidays.
The number of fines issued in the county rose from 41 in 2010/11 to 2,736 last year, and comes in the wake of the Government’s stricter laws on pupil absence.
But despite the clampdown, anecdotal evidence suggests some parents are willing to risk being fined because of the savings they can make by booking term-time holidays – avoiding half-term price hikes.
Suffolk’s education chief Lisa Chambers said: “Young people really need to attend school and be in a learning environment every day.
“Schools and authorities take the issue of children failing to attend school regularly very seriously and this rise in the number of fixed penalty notices issued by schools demonstrates that there is greater challenge by schools to parents and carers who fail to send their children to school.”
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