Families win term-time holidays legal battle
A borough council says it will reconsider issuing fines to parents who take their children on holiday during term-time after it lost a court case against three families.
Swindon Borough Council had issued them with penalty notices for unauthorized absence, but they all refused to pay and this week the fines were overturned by Salisbury Magistrates’ Court because the children’s attendances were good.
A spokesman for the council told the BBC it was disappointed with the outcome but that it will now ‘reconsider the instances in which penalty notices are issued’.
The court case follows a victory by parent Jon Platt, from the Isle of Wight, who won his case at the High Court after taking his daughter to Florida for 12 days.
He told the BBC: "The three parents who were dragged to court by Swindon council all had attendances far better than my daughter.
"It’s the local authority’s misunderstanding of the law driving them to issue penalty notices and prosecute parents who have done nothing wrong."
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Evidence shows that every extra day of school missed can affect a pupil’s chances of achieving good GCSEs.
"Over the past decade absence rates have followed a downward trend and almost 200,000 fewer pupils are now persistently missing school than in 2010 thanks to the hard work of teachers who are insisting on improved pupil behaviour and attendance."
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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