Sussex parents face fines for truant kids (From The Argus)
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Sussex parents face fines for truant kids
1:00pm Thursday 1st October 2009 in
Every parent in Sussex will face being fined if their children bunk off school from next year.
West Sussex County Council will send out fixed penalty notices to the parents of primary school children who skip school without permission, starting in January.
The county council started issuing the notices and £50 fines to the parents of secondary school pupils last term.
Parents in the rest of Sussex already face fines if their children are repeatedly playing truant or taken on holiday during term time.
The £50 fines are doubled to £100 if they are not paid within 28 days.
Parents who fail to pay after 42 days can be taken to court.
East Sussex County Council has been issuing the fines since the 2006-2007 school year. Last academic year 163 fixed penalty notices were issued.
Brighton and Hove City Council said it has had the power to issue fixed penalty notices since February 2004.
In most circumstances, parents are sent a warning letter before being fined.
But if parents take their children on holiday during term-time they will get an automatic £50 fine without a warning, rising to £100 if they do not pay within 28 days, and have no right to appeal.
Councils have the power to fine parent under changes made to the Antisocial Behaviour Act in 2002 amid fears truancy can leave pupils vulnerable to antisocial behaviour, crime and teenage pregnancy.
Comments(9)
D Merrett
says...
2:07pm Thu 1 Oct 09
beardie2
says...
3:42pm Thu 1 Oct 09
Bruce Gyngell
says...
6:58pm Thu 1 Oct 09
davyboy
says...
9:21pm Thu 1 Oct 09
beardie2 wrote:not what they want to hear, but spot on. my holidays are allocated, and difficult to change, so there are times we have to take out son out of school. the school actually allows 10 days for family holidays per school year so that is a help, but holiday companies could do more to help. they in turn say their hands are tied, as the hotels charge them more during the summer, so it is a lose- lose situation for us, and win-win for them
So fine us £50, we save so much more taking kids out of school for holidays during term time that we would still be in pocket after the holiday and your fine. Moreso than we would if we went on holiday in the summer hols!!
stickman
says...
9:44pm Thu 1 Oct 09
tinkywinky wrote:Ha Ha, you're joking. You won't find an A level student lower themselves to cleaning toilets. That's what we've got illegal immigrants for, the Brit kids are too good for jobs like that. They'd rather take benefits.
Good idea. Education education education. Of course it was different in my day when jobs were plentiful.
I would walk out of a job I didnt like one day, and start another the next day.
You need A levels to clean toilets nowadays, thats if you get chosen above the other 400 aplicants.
Tye
says...
10:24pm Thu 1 Oct 09
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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Sussex peple involved - I remember parents in the proper news going to Jail years ago,different law here? - so well done anti-cops , so Pc you're racist argos
stan bailey
says...
7:44am Fri 2 Oct 09
davyboy wrote:The only job I can think of that has set holidays; is teaching, and they have a generous holiday allocation. Maybe you need to join a union or change your job.
beardie2 wrote:not what they want to hear, but spot on. my holidays are allocated, and difficult to change, so there are times we have to take out son out of school. the school actually allows 10 days for family holidays per school year so that is a help, but holiday companies could do more to help. they in turn say their hands are tied, as the hotels charge them more during the summer, so it is a lose- lose situation for us, and win-win for them
So fine us £50, we save so much more taking kids out of school for holidays during term time that we would still be in pocket after the holiday and your fine. Moreso than we would if we went on holiday in the summer hols!!
davyboy
says...
3:22pm Fri 2 Oct 09
stan bailey wrote:i didnt say i had 'set' holidays, they are allocated on a rotational basais, so some years i get school holidays off, others i don't. this is because of the large number of people we employ, and this system is the fairest way to let everyone get a good allocation.
davyboy wrote:The only job I can think of that has set holidays; is teaching, and they have a generous holiday allocation. Maybe you need to join a union or change your job.
beardie2 wrote:not what they want to hear, but spot on. my holidays are allocated, and difficult to change, so there are times we have to take out son out of school. the school actually allows 10 days for family holidays per school year so that is a help, but holiday companies could do more to help. they in turn say their hands are tied, as the hotels charge them more during the summer, so it is a lose- lose situation for us, and win-win for them
So fine us £50, we save so much more taking kids out of school for holidays during term time that we would still be in pocket after the holiday and your fine. Moreso than we would if we went on holiday in the summer hols!!
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tinkywinky says...
1:37pm Thu 1 Oct 09
I would walk out of a job I didnt like one day, and start another the next day.
You need A levels to clean toilets nowadays, thats if you get chosen above the other 400 aplicants.