Term-Time Holiday Fines: The 2026 Rules, Step by Step

A term-time holiday fine is £80 per parent, per child, and £160 if you miss the 21 day deadline. The trigger is 10 unauthorised sessions in 10 school weeks, and the third one is not a fine at all.

The fine: £80 per parent, per child, if paid within 21 days. £160 if paid between day 22 and day 28.

The trigger: 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling 10 school weeks. A school day is 2 sessions, so 5 days does it.

The limit: a maximum of 2 penalty notices per parent, per child, in a rolling 3 year period. The second is £160 with no reduced rate.

The third time: no fine. The council goes to the magistrates instead, where the maximum is £2,500.

The escalation ladder. Each step is per parent and per child, so a family of two parents and two children multiplies every figure by four. Chart by Schools Insight.

Every September the same question arrives in the same week: what actually happens if we go away in term time. The honest answer is that a term-time holiday fine is now the least interesting part of the system. The amount has not changed since August 2024. What changed is that the decision to issue one stopped being a local lottery and became a national rule, and that the escalation past the second notice is not financial.

Here is how it works, in the order it happens to you.

Step 1: the school decides whether to authorise the absence

You have to request leave of absence in advance, and only the headteacher can grant it. The power sits in regulation 11 of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, which replaced the 2006 regulations on 19 August 2024. It lets an authorised person grant leave "because of the exceptional circumstances of the request".

Exceptional is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and no list of what counts exists in law. Each request has to be judged on its own facts, which is why two schools can reach different answers. In practice the requests that get granted tend to be things that cannot be moved: a funeral, a service family's leave dates, a wedding abroad in immediate family, a religious observance, or a parent whose employer genuinely cannot release them in the school holidays and can evidence it. A cheaper flight is not exceptional, and schools are explicitly told that cost is not a reason on its own.

The 2024 regulations also added leave for a job interview or admission interview, for studying for a public examination, as part of an agreed part-time timetable, and for certain educational activities off the school site.

If leave is refused and you go anyway, the absence is recorded as code G, holiday not granted, which is unauthorised.

Step 2: the 10 session threshold

Since 19 August 2024 there has been one national threshold at which a penalty notice must be considered by every school in England. It is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period.

Three things about that sentence catch people out:

A session is half a day. Registers are taken twice a day, so 10 sessions is 5 school days. A single week away trips it.
The sessions do not have to be consecutive, or of the same kind. Three days of unauthorised absence in October and two in November add up. Any unauthorised code counts, not just holidays.
The 10 weeks roll, and can cross terms and school years. A week in late July and a day in September can sit inside the same window.

Meeting the threshold means the school and council must consider a penalty notice. It does not mean one is automatic. Councils publish a code of conduct setting out the cases where they will use support first, and there are situations, such as absence linked to a child's mental health or an unmet special educational need, where a fine is the wrong tool and the guidance says so.

Step 3: the notice, and the 21 day clock

If a notice is issued, it goes to each parent, for each child. That is the multiplier most people miss. Two parents taking two children away can receive four notices.

Pay within 21 days: £80.
Pay between day 22 and day 28: £160.
Do not pay by day 28: the council may prosecute you for failing to secure your child's regular attendance.

There is no appeal against a penalty notice. You either pay it, or you do not pay it and put your case to a magistrate. If you think the notice was issued in error, the route is to contact the council's attendance team quickly and ask them to withdraw it, which they can do.

Step 4: the second notice, and then court

Each parent can receive a maximum of two penalty notices for the same child in a rolling three year period.

The second one is charged at £160 flat. The 21 day reduced rate is not offered again.

If the same child is absent enough to reach the threshold a third time inside those three years, no third notice can be issued. The council's options are the ones that involve a court: prosecution, a Parenting Order, or an Education Supervision Order. On conviction in the magistrates' court the maximum penalty is a fine of up to £2,500, a community order, or a prison sentence of up to three months. The court can add a Parenting Order on top.

The jump from £160 to a criminal conviction is the part of the system that is genuinely worth planning around. A family that takes a week in term time two years running has used both of its notices.

What this means for an actual booking

If you are weighing a term-time week against a holiday-season week, the numbers are easy to compare and rarely as close as people assume.

Two parents, two children, one week away, leave refused: £320 if every notice is paid inside 21 days, £640 if they are not.
The same family doing it again the following year: £640, with no reduced rate available.
A third time inside three years: no fine is available, so the question becomes whether the council prosecutes.

Two practical points. First, ask early and in writing, because a refusal you receive in February gives you a decision to make, while a refusal you receive the week before departure gives you a deposit you cannot recover. Second, check your council's own code of conduct, since councils publish the circumstances in which they will and will not issue notices, and those documents are public.

What is different in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The framework above is England only. Wales operates its own penalty notice system at a different amount and with different local codes of conduct. Scotland has no equivalent fixed penalty for term-time holiday; attendance is managed through the school and, at the far end, the Children's Reporter. Northern Ireland uses the Education Welfare Service and prosecution rather than fixed penalties.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is a term-time holiday fine in 2026?

£80 per parent, per child, if it is paid within 21 days, rising to £160 if it is paid between day 22 and day 28. A second penalty notice for the same child within three years is £160 with no reduced rate.

How many days can you take a child out of school before being fined?

The national threshold is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling 10 school week period. A session is half a day, so five school days reaches it. The days do not have to be consecutive and the 10 week window can cross terms and school years.

Can a school refuse a term-time holiday?

Yes. Under regulation 11 of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, a headteacher may grant leave of absence only where they consider the circumstances of the request exceptional. Saving money on flights is not treated as exceptional on its own.

Can you appeal a school absence penalty notice?

There is no formal right of appeal. You either pay the notice or decline to pay it, in which case the council may prosecute you and you put your case to the magistrates. If the notice was issued in error, contact the council's attendance team and ask for it to be withdrawn.

What happens the third time?

No third penalty notice can be issued for the same child within a three year period. The council's remaining options all involve a court: prosecution, an Education Supervision Order or a Parenting Order. The maximum fine on conviction is £2,500, and the court can impose a community order or up to three months in prison.

Does term-time absence for illness count?

No, if the school records it as authorised. The threshold counts unauthorised sessions only. Schools can ask for medical evidence where a pattern of absence concerns them, but they are told not to demand it routinely.

Sources

Checked on 7 September 2026 against GOV.UK guidance and the 2024 regulations. Penalty amounts are set nationally; the circumstances in which your council issues notices are set in its own published code of conduct.