THE number of fines for children being off school has increased ten-fold despite a crackdown introduced four years ago as more families go on holiday during school time.

Brighton and Hove City Council issued more than 1,000 fines to parents for their children’s poor school attendance in the last academic year - at a rate of more than five a day.

The council issued just 114 fines in 2012/13 rising to 417 in the first year of the new rules and soaring to 959 in 2014/15 and 1,076 in the last academic year.

The majority of fines are issued for parents taking children away on holiday without express permission - 88 per cent of fines issued in the autumn term last year and almost 99 per cent of fines in 2014 autumn term.

Fines were also issued for poor attendance and repeated lateness.

While fines for absences are soaring, the number of pupils absent from the city’s schools are falling with persistent absence rates in 49 out of 64 of the city’s schools improving in 2015-16.

In May, father Jon Platt won his High Court case against the Isle of Wight authority’s decision to fine him for taking his six-year-old daughter to Florida on holiday.

Judges ruled that overall attendance should be taken into account when issuing fines although the council is appealing the decision and Brighton and Hove City Council officials have advised the ruling has not changed the law.

Brighton father Noah Myers failed in a similar High Court bid over his decision to take his sons to Poland to see their cousin Maddy Myers in a weightlifting competition.

For more than 500 pupils last school year, being taken out on holiday by their parents tipped them into being dubbed persistently absent – missing 15 per cent of lessons in a school year or the equivalent of missing a whole month.

The council’s lead on children councillor Tom Bewick said he hoped that the introduction of a new week’s holiday in October as part of a two-year trial would help see the number of holiday absences reduce.

He added: “Like parking fines, we need to be open and transparent as to how we are applying them.

“We know there are parents who make a calculation to take the children on holiday during term time because it’s probably worth the £60 fine in comparison to the savings you can make on a two week holiday, that is the feedback we’re getting from schools.

“Obviously we want to improve attendance and attainment in schools but we have to strike a balance, as with speed cameras and parking fines, that residents and taxpayers do not lose confidence in the system, do not feel it is just a wheeze to make some money.”

Councillor Vanessa Brown, Conservative spokeswoman on children, said: "I was surprised by just how many pupils were persistently absent because they were being taken away on holiday and hopefully this extra week will sort that out."