Pivotal term-time holiday case goes to High Court
The case of a father who refused to pay a fine for taking his daughter on holiday in term-time without permission is due to be heard by the High Court.
Campaigners say the case is pivotal in the fight against the tougher rules being imposed by the Government since 2013.
Jon Platt took his daughter to Disney World Orlando in April 2015 and she missed seven days of school.
He refused to pay the first fine of £60 and then refused to pay again when the fine was doubled.
He has crowdfunded £25,000 to cover the legal costs of fighting his case.
Magistrates on the Isle of Wight had previously ruled there was no case to answer because Mr Platt’s daughter had attended school regularly and was there for over 90% of the time – enough not to be classed as persistent truancy by the Department for Education.
But the island’s council has now asked the High Court to clarify whether the court should have taken into account attendance outside of the offence dates ‘as particularised in the summons when determining the percentage attendance of the child?’.
The High Court’s decision could affect future cases.
According to the most recent figures, 50,414 fines were issued to parents in the academic year 2014/15, generating £3 million.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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