The Government has announced that schools in England are to remain open amid the coronavirus outbreak.
At present, individual schools may only close if they are specifically told to do so, for example if a student or staff member contracts Covid-19.
But what happens if parents choose to keep their children home over fears of becoming ill? Would people be prosecuted for not sending their youngsters into school in this situation?
The Department for Education says pupils are expected to attend classes as normal, so in theory parents could find themselves falling foul of the law.
However, it will be down to individual headteachers to decide if the absence is unauthorised and what action should be taken.
A DofE spokesperson said: “The current advice from Public Health England is that schools should remain open unless advised otherwise.
"It is for headteachers to decide whether an individual absence is authorised, but where schools are open and pupils are not unwell and have not been asked to self-isolate by PHE, we would expect them to attend school as normal."
According to the rules, you can be prosecuted if you do not give your child an education. Under normal circumstances, you’ll get warnings and offers of help from the local council first before matters are taken further.
It may become a problem if you decide to keep your children off school for a long time.
You can only allow your child to miss school if either they’re too ill to go in or you’ve got advance permission from the school.
Councils and schools can use various legal powers if your child is missing school without a good reason.
They can give you a parenting order, an education supervision order, a school attendance order or a fine.
The final resort is prosecution and parents are taken to court.
