Submitted by Lucy Boothroyd on Sunday 1st February 2026
Published on Tuesday 10th March 2026
Current status: Open
Open until: Thursday 10th September 2026
Current Signatures: 40
(count is updated approximately hourly)
Relevant Departments
Tagged with
Change ~ conflict ~ Decisive ~ FINES ~ knowledge ~ local ~ Parent ~ Penalty ~ penalty notices ~ Prevent ~ Responsible ~ school attendance ~ Schools ~ system ~ Unfair
Ban schools from issuing absence fines to both parents if they’re separated
We want the Government to change the rules so that school attendance fines are not automatically issued to both parents if they are separated, and only to be issued to the parent who arranged or agreed to the unauthorised absence.
Currently, local authorities may issue penalty notices to each parent with parental responsibility, even where parents are separated and one parent had no knowledge of, involvement in, or ability to prevent the absence.
We believe this is unfair and causes unnecessary conflict. We want the system updated so that fines are only issued to the parent responsible for the decision, or so that parents can be exempt if they can show they did not agree and could not reasonably stop it.
If you want to sign this petition (as opposed to merely discuss it), you need to do that on the government's e-Petitions website.
216.73.216.231 Thu, 25 Jun 2026 03:32:14 +0100