I’m fuming I was fined £320 for taking my kids to Lapland – I told the school about all our educational activities
I’m fuming I was fined £320 for taking my kids to Lapland – I told the school about all our educational activities
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A MUM-OF-THREE was left fuming after being fined an eye-watering £320 for taking her children on a fun winter holiday to Lapland. Mum Danielle, who jetted off to the tourist hotspot earlier this month, dubbed the hefty fine ''absolutely ridiculous''. Taking kids out of school for holidays is frowned upon as it can disrupt their education.
![[Woman holding papers, looking surprised.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/b18389c0-35ea-4edb-90ec-8c7cd347b8c1.jpg?strip=all&w=576)
Last year, Labour's Bridget Phillipson slammed "disrespectful" parents who do so. As of August 2024, the fine for school absences across the country rose from £60 to £80 if paid within 21 days. If parents fail to pay a fine issued within 21 days, they will have to pay double - £160, to be precise, up from the previous £120.
![[A man helps a child on a red sled in the snow at night.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/00c62c44-51bb-4a20-907a-1ed332f8bedb.jpg?strip=all&w=576)
The Department for Education said this rate tallies with inflation, and is the first time the amount has gone up since 2012. Parents can only accrue two fines within a three-year period - however, once this limit has been reached, additional actions such as parenting order, or prosecution will be implemented.
However, this hasn't stopped some families from going abroad during term time, especially as they can often find cheaper holiday deals when it's off-season. Raging about the fine, Danielle said her family were in Lapland, Finland, for a week and she viewed the time-off as an ''educational trip''.
''I actually wrote a letter of every single thing that we were gonna be doing in Lapland and how education this trip was gonna be,'' she was fuming in the video. ''We weren't sitting on a beach or random pool laying down for seven days - we actually had activities that we were doing every single day.
