Cornwall school fines: the five days that can cost parents £80

You’ve spotted a cheap week in the sun, but the dates overlap school by a few days. Does it really matter? In Cornwall, it can cost you £80 per parent, per child, and more if you’re slow to pay. Cornwall Council has explained how the rules work, and says they can be confusing.

The council is the body that sends out the fines, which are formally called penalty notices. But the Government sets the rules on when one should be issued, and headteachers have to follow them.

Who the rules apply to

If your child is aged five to 16 and registered at a school, you are legally responsible for making sure they attend regularly during term time. You can be fined or prosecuted if they are regularly absent without the school’s permission.

Children are only allowed to miss school in a few situations:

• they are too ill to go in
• they have a medical appointment
• there are special circumstances, such as a death in the family
• for religious observance
• because of poor weather conditions

The council asks parents to tell the school as early as possible if a child needs to miss a day.

📷Credit: Cornwall Council

Holidays in term time

Any time off has to be requested from the school in advance, as a leave of absence. Headteachers can only approve it in exceptional circumstances. The council says family holidays are not usually considered exceptional and are unlikely to be authorised.

Schools have their own exceptional circumstances or absence request form. It must be filled in before the absence, not after. The council’s advice is not to assume permission will be given.

📷Credit: Cornwall Council

When a fine can be issued

The trigger is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence. A school day has two sessions, morning and afternoon, so 10 sessions works out at five school days.

Those days do not have to be in a row. The 10 sessions can build up over any rolling period of 10 school weeks, and they can fall in different terms or even different academic years. If a child reaches that limit, the school can refer the absence to Cornwall Council. The council checks each referral against the rules before deciding whether to issue a fine.

Penalty notices can also follow:

• truancy
• a child being found during a school attendance and exclusion sweep
• an excluded pupil being found in a public place during the first five days of an exclusion

📷Credit: Cornwall Council

How much it costs

The first fine is £80 per child, per parent, if it is paid within 21 days. After that it rises to £160 per child, per parent, which must be paid within 28 days. Not paying after 28 days can lead to prosecution.

Those figures add up quickly. The council’s own example is a week’s holiday for two parents and two children. That comes to £320, or £640 if it is not paid within 21 days.

A second fine for the same parent and the same child within a rolling three-year period goes straight to £160, with no option to pay the lower rate. After a third fine within three years, the council will consider other enforcement options, which could include prosecution.

Penalty notices arrive by post. You can pay by credit or debit card by calling 01872 324201, quoting the penalty notice reference number from the letter. The money goes to Cornwall Council and is used to run the local penalty notice scheme.

There is no appeal

There is no right of appeal against a penalty notice. A notice can only be withdrawn if:

• it contains errors
• it is shown that it should not have been issued
• it did not follow the council’s code of conduct for issuing them

If you think a fine was wrongly issued, the council says to contact your child’s school.

The current rules come from a national framework for penalty notices for school absence. The Government introduced it on 19 August 2024, and it covers unauthorised holiday absence.

If your child is struggling to go to school

The council stresses that fines are only one side of this. Schools and the council say they aim to support families facing barriers to attendance. Parents who are struggling are urged to talk to their child’s school first.

For children with school anxiety, or who are refusing to go, the council’s advice is to work with the school wherever possible. That can mean:

• booking a meeting with a form teacher, head of year or SENCo
• asking the school’s attendance lead to help build a support plan, if a letter about attendance has arrived
• making sure any plan is reviewed regularly and shared with parents

Parents of children with an Education, Health and Care Plan can ask for a review if the support in place is not working.

Full details of the rules on children’s school attendance in Cornwall are on the council’s school attendance and absence page. Fines are covered on its penalty notices page. You can contact the Education Welfare Service on 01872 324298 (9am to 4.45pm, Monday to Friday, term time only) or at [email protected].

Autumn half term in Cornwall runs from Monday 26 October to Friday 30 October, and those five days come with no fine attached.