Parents will be fined £60 by schools if their children are continuously late for registration.
The £60 penalty will double if not paid within 21 days. Parents who refuse to pay could be prosecuted and even jailed.
Parents' groups have criticised this ploy, saying that the fines will end up punishing the children, not their parents.
Margaret Morrissey, from Parents Outloud, a campaign group stated, “For some families, the money they will be fined will be very important to them and it will be the children who lose out.”
In 2003, Labour introduced laws where parents could be fined for the regular truants of their children. In 2013, the Government got rid of their discretionary power, which allowed children to take off up to ten days during term time. Ultimately, this led to approximately 64,000 fixed-penalty notices being issued in 2014.
About 500 primary and secondary schools in Hampshire have written to parents, warning them that from September 2015, parents will be find if their children are late for school more than ten times in a term.
