| SPOTLIGHT |
Essex County Council has discontinued its legal action against the parents of a child at a school in Chelmsford over unauthorised absence.
The local authority said it had decided not to pursue James and Dana Haymore for payment of a fixed penalty notice because the family had emigrated to America.
The parents had been issued with the notice for taking their child out of Chancellor Park Primary School in Chelmsford.
The Haymores did not pay the fine within the required time period. An initial court hearing was held earlier this year and the next hearing was scheduled to take place in November.
According to a report from the BBC, the couple were expected to argue that the penalty was a breach of their right to a family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Cllr Ray Gooding, Cabinet member for Education and Lifelong Learning at Essex, said: “We have had to take a decision based on the public interest of pursuing a case where the family have emigrated and are no longer being educated in an Essex school.
“This is an unusual situation but we have chosen to be pragmatic and accept that continuing with the prosecution serves little purpose and will cost the council money.”
Cllr Gooding added: “We take unauthorised absence very seriously and support the principle of the Government’s strengthening of the rules in September 2013, which meant that term-time absence had to be authorised by head teachers and only in exceptional circumstances. It is extremely important to remember that in this case, the school followed the policy to the letter.”
