HUNDREDS of parents were hit with school fines over the past year.

More than £50,000-worth of fines were issued by the council for unauthorised absences from school between the start of term in September last year and the end of the year in July.

The figures were revealed after law firm Simpson Millar made freedom of information requests to Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset councils.

If a school notifies the local council that a child has had unauthorised absence, the council can issue the parents with a £60 fixed penalty notice which rises to £120 if it isn’t paid within 21 days.

In Bournemouth, 293 fines were issued, with a net worth of £17,580.

The council later withdrew 36 fines, leaving £15,420 still to be paid by parents.

In Dorset, 271 fines totalling £16,260 were issued.

Poole council issued the highest number of fines, with 328 sent to parents.

If all were paid within 21 days, the fines would cost a total of £19,680.

Fines can be issued for unauthorised holiday or holiday in excess of a period determined by a headteacher, if a reason for an absence hasn't been provided, if a child is absent from school without authorisation or if a child has arrived in school after registration is closed.

A spokesperson from Poole council said heads at the town's schools determine if an absence is unauthorised before notifying the council.

Headteachers must first have discussed or attempted to discuss the absence with a parent or carer.

Penalty notices can be issued where a pupil has more than 10 per cent unauthorised absences over a stretch of time, usually not more than six weeks.

A similar system exists in Dorset.

A county council spokesperson said: “It is up to the school to decide whether an absence is unauthorised or not.

"It is any absence where the school believes there is not a valid reason for that absence.”

Solicitor Julie Robertson from Simpson Millar said: “From the national figures we can see how some schools are using their discretion appropriately where the parents are sensible in their choices and decisions. Others seem to be rather abundant in slapping parents with a fine regardless of the circumstances.

“What one head teacher agrees are special circumstances, another doesn’t.

"It is a postcode lottery.

"We need more consistency and, in some areas, more common sense.”

Education penalty notices were introduced by the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 in a bid to help curb unauthorised absence for children of school age.