Parents who let their children play truant could be stripped of benefits under a post-Covid schools drive.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove floated the idea as part of a ‘rigorous drive’ to get youngsters back in the classroom.
Proposals for removing child benefit from families who fail to make children attend were floated under the coalition government but blocked by the Lib Dems. But unions immediately condemned the latest move, saying it would be ‘wrong and counterproductive’.
Local authorities currently have options such as parenting orders, education supervision orders and fines to tackle persistent truancy. At an event hosted by the Onward think-tank, Mr Gove said stripping child benefit could help restore ‘an ethic of responsibility’. The minister added: ‘We need to – particularly after Covid – get back to an absolute rigorous focus on school attendance, on supporting children to be in school.
‘It is often the case that it is truanting or persistent absenteeism that leads to involvement in anti-social behaviour.
‘So one of the ideas that we floated in the coalition years, which the Liberal Democrats rejected, is the idea that if children are persistently absent then child benefit should be stopped.
