Prime minister David Cameron has unveiled plans to crack down on the number of parents failing to pay their fines, often because councils do not seek legal action to collect the money.
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The £60 civil penalty – which goes up to £120 if unpaid for 21 days – will now be mandatory.
Figures obtained earlier this year by the Press Association showed that 16,430 people in England were prosecuted last year for failing to ensure that a child went to school – with around three-quarters (12,479) found guilty.
Mr Cameron said: ‘We are determined to tackle the harm truancy does to a child’s chances in life.
The prime minister said it was up to parents to “make sure your children attend school” and avoid sanctions. “So for parents who let their child play truant and refuse to pay truancy penalties, we will deduct it from their child benefit”.
The plan will see fines of upto £120 clawed back by HMRC if they remain unpaid after 28 days.
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Britain’s largest teachers’ union, however, said collecting truancy fines directly from parents’ child benefit payments is not only unjustifiably punitive but could harm the child’s interests.
“The policy runs the risk of increasing family debt which has long term negative consequences for children”, Blower said.
Under current rules, parents are given time to resolve truancy of their child but if the behaviour fails to stop, a school or local education authority can issue a fixed penalty notice of £60.
Schools will not be obliged to provide holiday care or “wrap-around” clubs when asked, but will be required to publish reasons why they do not respond to requests from groups of parents or childcare providers.
“All the evidence is that if children consistently miss school, they get a worse education, they get worse results and as a result they have less good prospects for the rest of their lives”, he said. There is also a responsibility on schools to ensure that if a child is disengaging, that the right kind of services is put around them.
Families will also get greater access to childcare at their local school with childcare providers, holiday clubs and breakfast clubs, having the right to request to use school facilities after hours.
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The right to request will apply to all state-maintained primary schools, academies and free schools.
