Worst UK council for absence fines revealed: The place where parents have paid £1m in school fines

• Fines for parents who take their children out of school without authorisation are about to go up.
• New research has shown one UK council has issued 12,000 fines in the last year alone.
• A local councillor has confirmed 90% of them were for term time holidays.
• The government says good attendance is linked to better school performance, and child wellbeing.

Parents in one English city have forked out nearly a million pounds in fines for taking their kids out of school without authorisation in the last few years - most of them for term time holidays.

Fines for unauthorised absences are currently set at £60, doubled to £120 if you don’t pay promptly. But from next month they are set to see their first increase since 2012, climbing to £80 - £160 if not paid within three weeks.

The move has been seen by some as a crackdown on parents trying to access more affordable family holidays. Prices are often lower during term time when there is less demand from other families also trying to book holidays, and the significant savings to be made can make just footing the bill for the fine seem like a more affordable prospect.

Now new research by UK law firm LegalExpert has revealed which part of the country is the worst offender when it comes to fines issued for unauthorised absences. The firm sent Freedom of Information requests to every metropolitan and unitary council in England, to determine how many fines they had issued over the past three years.

The West Yorkshire city of Bradford came out on top, with its council issuing a whopping 12,634 fines in the last academic year alone. These accounted for £914,000 over the full three-year period. On top of that, almost one in five of them were not paid within the three-week limit.

The Bradford area had also seen a sharp spike in the number of fines being issued in recent years. This figure went up 269% between 2021/22 and 2023/24, the data showed.

Although the figures did not include complete data for every local authority area in the country, local councillor Sue Duffy confirmed to the Express that the number of children skipping school in Bradford for unauthorised leave was more than twice the national average. “The vast majority – about 90% - of fines are issued for term time holidays,” she added.

If parents don’t pay their fines within four weeks total, or if they amass more than three in three years, they can face legal action. This can include include the local council seeking an Education Supervision Order from the family court - which could lead to a supervisor being appointed to make sure your child is attending school. Serious cases can even go to court, which can lead to steep fines of up £2,500, a court issued Parenting Order, a community order, or even a jail sentence of up to three months.

Announcing the increase of the fines, the government said it was a matter of child welfare. The Department for Education wrote in a blog post: “Every moment in school counts and days missed add up quickly. Evidence shows that pupils who have good attendance enjoy better wellbeing and school performance than those who don't.”

Check out the video above to find out more. You can also see how your local council area fared online here.