County council abandons term-time holiday fines
One local authority has stopped issuing fines to parents who take their children on holiday during term.
Derbyshire County Council said that it will now only issue fines in ‘extreme cases’, said the BBC.
The council fined nearly 3,200 parents £60 per child last year – the fifth highest in the country – after the Government issued new guidelines stating term-time holidays should only be allowed in ‘exceptional circumstances’.
However, its decision to abandon the fines follows a High Court case which ruled that a parent could take a child out of school for a holiday if they had a good attendance record.
The High Court ruling is the subject of an appeal.
Derbyshire County Council said in the interim it will only issue a warning to parents who take their children on term-time holidays as long as their attendance is above 94%.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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