Remove fines for parents taking children out of school up to 5 days

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

Remove the fines and criminal record threats faced to parents when they decide to take children out of school for a short period of time. There are many reasons why parents decide to do this and the schools/government should be working with parents not against.

This puts a huge amount of pressure and stigma to parents facing the cost of living crisis and/or parenting a child of SEN that going away during half terms isn’t suitable. Other situations for example parents not being able to take annual leave during half terms restricts them spending time together. Then with the fine and criminal record can be devastating. The pressure of having a criminal record for this makes parents feel stuck.Trust that parents have the best intentions for their children.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

You may wish to sign the following petition, which calls for similar action:

Allow parents to take their children out of school for 5 school days in a year
Allow parents to take their children out of school for 5 school days in a year

Timeline

29 Oct 2025	Petition opened for signatures
28 Nov 2025	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21

Status Rejected

Rejected 28 Nov 2025

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