Peterborough leads the way as petition to let parent take kids on holiday during school term attracts 90k signatures

A petition lodged with Parliament to allow parents to take children out of school during term time has attracted 93,573 signatures, with more Peterborough residents signing up than anywhere else in the country.
Peterborough leads the way in terms of the number of people signing the petition from a single constituencyPeterborough leads the way in terms of the number of people signing the petition from a single constituency
Peterborough leads the way in terms of the number of people signing the petition from a single constituency

The present rules, introduced in 2013, mean that parents must file an application with their child’s headteacher in advance if they wish to go on holiday during term time. The headteacher makes the decision on whether the absence will be approved, with guidelines allowing holidays to be signed off under exceptional circumstances.

Parents who don’t follow the rules can be fined by their local council. The penalty of £60 will rise to £120 if it is not paid within 21 days and parents can be prosecuted if the fine is still outstanding after 28 days.

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At the time of writing, in Peterborough, 527 people had signed the petition, more than any other single constituency in the UK.

Neighbouring constituencies were not far behind with 465 signatures in Shailesh Vara’s North West Cambridgeshire constituency, 311 in Jonathan Djanogly’s Huntingdonshire and 308 signatures in North East Cambridgeshire, where Stephen Barclay sits.

In total, 1,777, people have signed the petition in Cambridgeshire.

The Government is yet to respond to the petition, but commits to responding to all petitions that receive more than 10,000 signatures. At 100,000 signatures, the petition will be considered for debate in parliament, meaning that - at the time of writing - the petition is less than 7,000 signatures away from being considered for debate by MPs.

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The petition was created by a Mr Dave Hedley, whose family has run foul of the rules: “Myself and my wife received a fine for our two eldest children (two fines each parent) for taking our children on holiday for 5 days in term time which was the only week free from surgery and radiotherapy.

“This apparently is not an exceptional circumstance. The council quote is S.444 A or 1 of the Education act 1996 which in its own term indicates truancy and not a one off family holiday. Councils are too ready to fine and wont (sic) consider exceptional circumstances.”

The school in question apparently knew of the cancer diagnosis which Mr Hedley, from Nottinghamshire, feels should be considered an exceptional circumstance.