The number of fines issued to parents for taking their children on holiday during term time has almost trebled in two years, with tens of thousands handed out last year alone.
It comes after a government crackdown on absence, including the introduction of strict rules on term-time holidays in England two years ago.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that in the past academic year, at least 50,414 penalty notices were issued because children were taken out of lessons for trips. This is up 25 per cent on the year before, when at least 40,218 were given out, and up 173 per cent from the 18,484 fines handed out in 2012/13.
The figures, released in the week before children across England break up for half-term, cover 71 councils that provided data for all three years. Overall, across 98 councils who responded, 86,010 fines were issued in 2014/15 for pupil absence, either through holiday or truancy. This was up from 62,204 the year before and 32,512 in 2012/13.
When it comes to holidays during term time, parents in Lancashire were found to be the worst offenders, with almost 4,000 fines in the last school year.
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Craig Langman, a father from Nuneaton who founded the campaign group Parents Want A Say, said nearly 230,000 people had signed his petition calling for the penalties to be scrapped.
Mr Langman said he took action after being threatened with a fine if he took his son out of school to visit his sick grandfather. “I was seeing red. I thought, ‘How dare they tell me that I can’t take my child out to see his family?’ [People] are saying they feel they are being made to feel like criminals,” he added.
Headteachers said that while there are times when children have to miss school, such as illness or family emergencies, holidays are not a valid reason.
However critics argue that the rules have the biggest impact on those who cannot afford the higher holiday costs during school breaks and families with parents who work shifts.
The future of the fines was thrown into question last week when a father won a court battle after refusing to pay a £120 fine for taking his six year-old daughter out of school to go to Disney World, Florida. The case against Jon Platt, 44, was thrown out at the Isle of Wight magistrates’ court after he argued that the law requires parents only to ensure their children attend school “regularly”.
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The Department for Education said: “ Our evidence shows missing the equivalent of just one week a year from school can mean a child is significantly less likely to achieve good GCSE grades .”
Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “Punishing parents financially for making individual decisions about their children’s education is not the way to improve our education system.”