389 Portsmouth parents prosecuted over children's poor school attendance - with 2,141 £60 penalties issued in a year

Figures from the Department for Education showed during the school year 2018-19, Portsmouth parents were prosecuted 389 times for not paying a fixed penalty notice issued for poor attendance.

This is 18 per cent of the 2,141 penalties issued, more than double the national average of seven per cent.

During the same period, the number of notices being issued to families rose by 20 per cent.

Alison Jeffery, director of children, families and education at Portsmouth City Council, said school attendance needs to improve but reiterated it was for schools to make the decision to take action.

Ms Jeffrey said: ‘School absence is higher in Portsmouth than many other local authorities and schools may take action against parents to ensure children attend school as they are required to do.

‘Prior to the pandemic our school attendance publicity campaign, Miss School Miss Out, was having a positive impact in raising awareness of the importance of school attendance for future career aspirations and in improving attendance in the city.’

Speaking previously on the issue, cabinet member for education, Cllr Suzy Horton, said: ‘There are some cases with the families of students who are persistently not attending school for whom stricter measures are needed and in these cases we support the schools in the court process and sanctions.’

Figures show 82 per cent of fixed penalty notices given related to pupils taken on holiday during term-time.

The rise reflects the situation nationally with the last academic year seeing a 28 per cent rise in the number of parents receiving fines – 86 per cent of those were for unauthorised family holidays.

Penalty notices are £60 if paid within 21 days, rising to £120 if paid between 22 and 28 days. In Portsmouth, 1,512 fines worth £90,720 were paid on time with 165 payments made within the second period.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, believes the situation will continue without government intervention to tackle the inflated cost of vacations during school holidays.

Mr Whiteman said: ‘Neither parents nor schools set the prices of holidays.

‘They will both continue to be caught between a rock and a hard place without sensible government intervention.’

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