What does taking your child out of school in term time actually cost?

Work it out

The rules, as GOV.UK states them

• £80 per parent, per child, if paid within 21 days.
• £160 if it is not paid within 21 days.
• A second penalty notice within three years is £160 with no lower rate, payable within 28 days.
• Each parent can receive at most two penalty notices for the same child in three years.
• A third offence in three years is not fined — the council can prosecute instead, and a magistrates’ court can impose considerably more.

A fine is not automatic. Schools and councils decide whether to refer an absence at all, and thresholds vary between councils. Checked against GOV.UK’s guidance on legal action to enforce school attendance, 25 August 2026.

The cheaper answer: don’t be absent at all

Councils set their own term dates, and they don’t agree. In some councils there is a week each year when your schools are shut and most of England’s are open — the same off-peak conditions, with no absence and nothing to pay. Check your council before you plan around a fine.