Fight School Fines was created in July 2024 via a Facebook group. I am a married Mum to two children, a girl and a boy. My daughter is autistic and has a Pathological Demand Avoidance Profile (PDA). This means she often resists every day demands to the extreme. So as you can imagine, life can be pretty tough as it is - without the stress of fines and potential prosecutions. 

This group was started to gather people's individual experiences to highlight to the public all the challenges that families face. Although cost of family breaks is a very important factor in this campaign, it has been important for me to highlight to the government, and wider public that there are a lot more reasons families need to take term time leave. 

We are ultimately campaigning to overhaul the current punitive system, uncover the flaws in the legislation and allow ALL children 10 days term time leave. 

You can get involved by joining our FB group - Fight School Fines Scandal, following the School Fines Campaign FB page, telling your story, and attending planned protests and events. 

As it stands, the legal basis for contesting a fine is very rigid. Now the national framework for school attendance is live, a Local Authority can issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) if a child misses 10 or more sessions in a 10 week rolling period. This equates to 5 school days and does not have to be taken in a block, ie. a child could be late for 4 sessions and then have 6 sessions for a family break. Each Local Authority has their own guidelines on how they will implement the framework, so please read this carefully.