Depends how long you're away. She was in school, so presumably went away for Easter in April.

The new rule was introduced in February, well before she went away. She (or her parents) should have known she wouldn't be able to get back.

However it still stands that the government did not communicate this change very well. But I feel like the government departments are getting too much of the blame for this - it's a bad policy with poor guidelines for implementation, and that isn't the fault of the civil servants who are tasked with implementing it.