'We're treated like hardened criminals for taking our children out of school during term time'

An -of-two who has spearheaded a national campaign against and organised a petition backed by nearly 150,000 signatures, says the Government’s crackdown is "reckless, punitive and negligible - and is criminalising parents."

Natalie Elliott, 37, from Marehay, Derbyshire launched the term-time holiday petition after her request to take her autistic daughter Evie out of school for two days for respite was put down as . Natalie says Evie, 9, struggles to go on holiday in the peak-season because venues are too overwhelming and busy and believes parents should be allowed 10 term time days per year for family trips.

Natalie's Fight campaign group on has over 20,000 members and the petition has over 146,000 signatures and is due to be debated in this month.

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In March, Natalie organised protests that took place across the country in Norwich, Durham, Leeds, Southampton and Nottingham. She has written an open letter to all MPs, asking for their backing.

Her campaign is backed by Dr Allison Gardner, labour MP for Stoke on Trent South who spoke at the debate at Westminster in November and Natalie is due to meet with her own MP Linsey Farnsworth to discuss it.

Natalie, mum to Evie, 9, and Alfie, 7, said: "We’re seeking reform to the punitive policy for term time leave that disproportionately impacts families that are already under immense pressure and criminalises parents that we think are making choices in the best interests of their families. No family should face criminal convictions.

"I started the campaign in July last year after hearing about the new national framework. We are going to see a lot more parents going to court now – and it’s not right.

"My daughter is autistic and I’ve got chronic illnesses – life is pretty tough and trying to have quality family time together is hard.

"This isn’t just about the – it goes much wider than that – people are getting fined for their kids being off sick which is unlawful because sickness is a statutory defence. People are accepting liability and paying the fines because they are scared of going to court. Children with mental health issues such as depression and anxiety are being marked as unauthorised absences.

"More people are going to court now and more people are getting angry about it – this is starting to rattle a lot of cages.

"Parents aren’t being given a choice and are being put in the same category as hardened criminals."

Natalie says that parents are being forced to provide evidence of their child’s sickness – such as photographing their child’s vomit – or in extreme cases actually driving samples of illness round to their child’s school. She has also been contacted by parents that have had school staff turning up at their house and knocking on the door to check that the child is sick and not on holiday.

"It’s not about education, it’s about control," Natalie explained. "People are becoming more and more controlled.

"Schools are making parents give evidence even when their child’s school attendance is high and it’s breaking down the relationship between school and home and making it really toxic.

"Some schools have their own policy and if a child is sick for two or three days they are turning up at the child’s home - allegedly to check if they are safe and well. But this is nothing to do with safeguarding and all about trying to prove that you are on holiday and trying to catch you out. Turning up at your home and knocking on your door is intimidation. This is a widespread problem happening in lots of areas.

"Parents are being penalised for taking care of their own children. We have children with SEND and disabilities, parents that suffer with , seasonal workers that cannot take time off in the school holidays. There are so many circumstances that prevent people from accessing that quality enriching family time… we need to all unite, stand together and show the Government that we are not backing down."

Many of the parents who have signed the petition have – who argue that their child/ren can’t go on holiday unless it’s during term-time, because they can’t cope with the noise and crowds that are inevitable in peak holiday season.

Helen Foster, 46, a mother-of-five successfully challenged a term-time holiday fine, citing her children’s disabilities. Hull City Council withdrew the case after Helen appealed under the Equality Act 2010.

Helen, from East Hull and her husband Steve took their children Elliot, 21, Olivia, 19 , Alex, 10, Theo, eight and Ivy, six, to Spain last September. Ivy has Down’s Syndrome and their two sons have . Helen was fined £640 which has now been cancelled.

Dr Allison Gardner told the Westminster debate in November: "If a family has a child with special educational needs and disabilities who is having a particularly difficult time, and who needs more time, the fine is not an incentive; it is a punishment for looking after their child.

"As the petition clearly sets out, there are families for whom travelling outside term time is quite impossible. While costs are higher, planes and trains are also overcrowded, so it is not just about the costs, although there are families in financial difficulties. For children with special needs or in unique situations, travelling at very busy times can be challenging.

"We sometimes need family holidays in difficult times, and those difficult times do not respect term times, so taking our child out of school is the only option."

In March, the exclusively revealed that mum-of-three Rachel Smith is home-schooling her kids for three months so her family can go on holiday without the threat of court action. Rachel branded the government “a dictatorship” after being fined £480 in January for taking them to Portugal in term time.

Rachel had booked another term-time holiday to Lanzarote and was worried about getting a criminal record.

Rather than live in fear of incurring further fines or court action and a criminal record, Jewellery designer Rachel, 43 and husband Stuart, 41 from Bridgwater, Somerset deregistered their children Owen, 9, Ruby, 7 and Zac, 5 to teach them at home.

The most recent government statistics (for 2023-24) show a record number of fines were given to parents in England for their children’s absence from school. Of the 487,344 fines issued, 91% were for unauthorised family holidays.

If these fixed penalty notices go unpaid, or have been previously issued, parents face court - with 28,296 parents prosecuted over their children’s school attendance during the same period.

"We were fined £640 for going to see family in Australia"

Mum-of-three Sophia Rabbetts works as a nurse and lives in Bradford with husband Lachlan and their children aged 10, 7 and 3 who are all neurodiverse. Her oldest child has autism, and her youngest child is non-verbal and has severe learning disabilities

The family were fined £640 for taking their children to last December. Lachlan is Australian and his family live there – he hadn’t seen his siblings for five years and it was the first time their children had met their cousins.

Sophia said: ‘We took the children to Australia in December so they could meet their relatives and learn about their heritage. Lachlan’s family literally live on the other side of the and we hadn’t had a family in 10 years.

"We will be emigrating to Australia in the future and wanted the children to see where they could be living. Lachlan’s parents are getting older and we wanted to spend a family Christmas together. I spoke to the school in May to let them know my intentions – I filled in the relevant form and thought they would be understanding. Our children have never had time off school unless they are sick and are model pupils. But our request was met with blanket refusal."

The family flew to Australia in December and the children were out of school for 15 days. Sophia said: "The children visited the school they will go to when we emigrate and had so many life experiences – they were in the bush, cooking and baking with their grandparents, and spending time with family which was priceless."

In March, the family received a fine letter.

"I thought the letter said we would be fined £80 per child, per parent if we paid the fine within 28 days,’ says Sophia. There’s no mediation or no one to discuss it – you either pay it - or go to court.

"We decided to pay it even though we feel it is unjust because we don’t want our DBS threatened. We paid the fine on day 23. But then we got another letter saying we had only paid half because the fine actually doubles after day 21. We had to pay £640 instead of £320.

"We are private people but we feel the need to speak out about this because it feels like we are living in a nanny state!"

"My daughter can’t cope with a peak-season holiday"

Business owner Jessica Cole, 31 lives with husband Benjamin, 32, a head chef and their two children Mia, five and Mason, 12 in Leeds.

They are going on a term time holiday to next week.

Mia, five is non-verbal autistic. The holiday was booked prior to Mia starting school.

Jessica said: "We went on holiday abroad last year during the school holidays and Mia couldn’t cope. It was really crowded and she completely zoned out, she couldn’t enjoy it at all because it was so busy and overwhelming. This year I purposefully booked a holiday outside of peak school holidays because we can’t go during peak times - I knew she wouldn’t manage it.

"I had a letter from Mia’s school saying it was bad for her social and emotional health and that she would miss too much education. Mia turns six this year but she’s working at a 9 month – 13 month level. She’s in a separate part of the classroom and spends 90 per cent of her time on her own. She wouldn’t miss a thing.

"I have to fight for her everyday and I don’t have the energy. I’m not asking for much – just a holiday with my family. I told the school that under the disability act 2010 they needed to make a reasonable adjustment and let Mia have the time off. They’ve since authorised the holiday but I’m still upset."

"The politicians haven’t got a clue"

Heather Cawthorne, 39 from Devon is mum to Harry, 14, Lily and Oscar, five. Oscar is non-speaking autistic. Last year the family went on a term-time holiday to Spain and will be going on another term-time holiday to Spain next year.

She said: "I took Oscar to Spain for his first holiday in the school holidays a couple of years ago – and it was mayhem. The school fines massively impact SEN families, including mine. This is because our children cannot tolerate busier environments.

"I will continue to take my children on term-time holidays. I would rather pay a fine than put my non-verbal autistic son in a situation that scares him and doesn’t give him a nice experience. I know of lots of families that go abroad, because hotels and airlines can be accommodating to SEN families and make special adjustments because they’ve got the time to make those adjustments but they can’t do this in the school summer holidays because it is just too busy.

"There are a lot of discussions about term-time holidays right now but no one is talking about the barriers to education, about children’s mental health being on the floor, about the need for quieter spaces and environment. We are in a dangerous space and are being attacked by all areas. The politicians haven’t got a clue."

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