LANCASHIRE County Council issued the most fines to parents for taking their children out of school for family holidays of any education authority in the country, according to new statistics.

In 2017/18 it gave 7,575 penalty notices for non-attendance for this reason out of a total of 7,891 for children not turning up.

Blackburn with Darwen Council, which has 24,289 pupils compared to Lancashire 154,455, issued 1,749 holiday fines out of 1,916 non-attendance penalty notices of £60.

In 2017/2018 Lancashire County Council took 686 cases to court and Blackburn with Darwen 74.

Department for Education figures show the number of non-attendance fines for all reasons in the county area had risen from 6,876 in 2016/2017 and from 526 in Blackburn with Darwen.

Nationally the number of parents fined for their children’s poor attendance at school has risen by 74.7 per cent over 12 months to 260,877 in 2017/18 with 85.4 per cent given for unauthorised family holiday absence.

The increase follows Jon Platt losing a Supreme Court case in April 2017 over taking his daughter out of school without permission for a Disney World holiday.

A county council spokesman said: “As Lancashire has more schools than any other local authority we are always likely to issue more fines. We encourage schools to work closely with parents to reduce unauthorised absences. Our aim is not to punish parents but to ensure children receive a good education.”

Blackburn with Darwen education boss Cllr Maureen Bateson said: “We ask schools to be understanding when dealing with cases of absence for family holidays.

“It is vital that children go to school as every day not in class is a day of learning lost. Heads are asked to deal with each case on its individual merits and family circumstances. A lot of the unauthorised absences are not connected for family holidays”