Taking your child out of school in term time: the rules

What England allows, and what it does not

In England, regulation 11 of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 governs leave from schools maintained by a local authority; the national guidance applies the same test of exceptional circumstances to every school. Leave may only be given by a person the school has authorised, and only in the cases the regulation lists, among them: to attend an interview for a job or another school, to study for a public examination, for an educational visit supervised by school staff, under an agreed part-time timetable, or — the case most parents mean — when a parent the pupil normally lives with has asked in advance and the authorised person thinks leave should be given because of exceptional circumstances. The Department for Education's statutory guidance, updated in July 2026, adds two points: schools must consider each request individually and should not run blanket policies that grant leave automatically, and a holiday or other absence for leisure and recreation is generally not an exceptional circumstance. If leave is granted, the school decides its length.

Wales, Scotland and Ireland answer differently

Wales uses the same penalty notice approach under its own regulations: the Welsh Government's guidance sets the penalty at £60 if paid within 28 days, rising to £120 within 42 days, lets each local authority set the level of unauthorised absence in its own code of conduct, and names an unauthorised term-time holiday as a case where a first notice may be justified. Scotland's national guidance, Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1 (2019), says term-time holidays should only be authorised where a parent's job prevents leave in the school holidays — it names the armed services and emergency services — and that all other family holidays in term time are recorded as unauthorised; weddings and funerals are usually authorised absence. In Ireland, Tusla's education support service strongly advises against holidays in term time, and every absence, a holiday included, counts towards the 20 days after which the school must report to Tusla.

If the request is refused and you go anyway

The days become unauthorised absence. In England a school that sees a pupil reach 10 unauthorised sessions within 10 school weeks must consider, case by case, whether a penalty notice is appropriate. The fine is £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days; a second notice for the same child within three years is a flat £160, and a third cannot be issued — the local authority takes other action instead, which often means considering prosecution. In court, a parent can face a fine of up to £2,500, a community order or up to three months in prison. None of this is automatic, and schools are expected to offer support before sanctions where the cause of absence calls for it. A family holiday usually is not such a case.

If your child is ill, this is not a question of leave but of reporting sickness — when a school may ask for a doctor's note is covered in School sick note rules.

How penalty notices and prosecution work in detail, from the national threshold to court, is set out in School absence fines.

For families in Ireland, the Education (Welfare) Act and Tusla's 20-day rule are explained in School absence rules in Ireland.

How schools keep excused and unexcused days per pupil without tally marks is shown in Manage school absences.