Parents are now more likely to face fines from schools this year for breaking attendance rules, following new orders from the Government to headteachers. Thousands of parents are fined every year for taking children out of school during term time, and the new measures are set to increase enforcement.
Couples face penalties of up to £80 for taking their kids out of school to go away. While some headteachers may previously have been lenient, they are now expected to clamp down on the issue more strongly following Government changes.
Individual attendance targets introduced
Schools are being set individual attendance targets by ministers. This means headteachers will be under more pressure from the Department for Education to keep attendance levels as high as possible. As a result, schools are likely to look even more unfavourably upon term-time holiday rule-breakers this year.
They will be expected to enforce rules and not let parents off the hook. This could result in a flood of fines for those parents who continue to ignore orders.
Public opinion and financial impact
Term-time holiday rules have been a controversial issue for years. More than two-thirds of over 4,000 people who took part in a BirminghamLive poll said they did not believe fining parents was fair, indicating widespread dismay over the rule.
Analysis suggests parents save £567 on average by going on holiday during term time. Data obtained from Birmingham City Council showed 11,605 fines were issued by the city council between May 2025 and January 2026.
Expert comment on fines and savings
Tom Vaughan, from Confused.com, said: "For some families, taking some extra holiday days during term-time can seem appealing, with rates often being cheaper outside peak school holiday periods."
"Our research found that parents or guardians say they saved £567 on average when taking trips during term time. But it doesn't come without financial consequences, with UK parents issued £41 million in fines for term-time holidays between 2022 and 2024."
While previously different schools have enforced fines in different ways, from September, every mainstream state school in England will be given its own target to improve pupil attendance as part of a wider government crackdown on absence. For parents, that likely means absences are tracked more closely, so a term-time trip is more likely to land on a school's radar.
