Unauthorised school absence fines total £98k

Parents and guardians have been handed fines totalling £98,120 after their children missed school without permission during a 14-month period.

North Tyneside Council issued 1,283 fines to parents and guardians for unauthorised school absences between September 2024 and November 2025.

The fine is £80 per child, per parent for the whole period of absence. If the penalty is not paid within 21 days, it is doubled.

The council said North Tyneside's unauthorised absence rate remained "below both regional and national averages" and added that money received from fines was reinvested into support services that worked alongside schools.

Failure to pay or continued unauthorised absences can result in prosecution, leading to a fine of up to £2,500 per parent per child, a community order, or even a prison sentence of up to three months.

If a parent receives a second penalty notice for the same child within three years, the fine remains £160 with no early payment discount.

Mark Mirfin, North Tyneside Council's interim director of children's services, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "When children attend school regularly, it has a direct and positive impact on their learning, their opportunities and their long-term success in life."

He said the borough's comparatively low unauthorised absence rates were "a result of strong leadership in schools" and added that fines were "just one of the tools which encourages good attendance".

In October, MPs debated a petition, signed by 181,597 people, calling for parents to be allowed to take children out of school for up to 10 days without being fined.

Conservative MP Robbie Moore, who introduced the petition, said many families could not afford holidays outside of term time.

However, the government rejected the petition, with School Standards Minister Georgia Gould adding that the UK was still facing an "absence epidemic".

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