LANCASHIRE gave out the most fines for unauthorised absences in schools last year, new figures reveal.

Data shows 6,876 penalties were issued to parents for taking their children out of school during term time without permission in 2016/17.

But Lancashire County Council said it issues more fines as it has more schools than any other local authority.

Susie Charles, Lancashire's cabinet member for children, young people and schools, said: "As Lancashire has more schools than any other local authority, we are always likely to issue the most fines.

"The decision to authorise absence or not rests with the head teacher of the particular school, and we encourage schools to work closely with parents to reduce unauthorised absences.

"Our aim throughout is not to punish parents but to ensure that children and young people attend school and receive a good education."

Unacceptable reasons stated for absence on Lancashire County Council's website include shopping, holidays in term time which are not authorised by your child's school, hair cut and truancy.

Other reasons include airport visits, birthday treats, days out/trips, looking after brothers and sisters at home, non-urgent medical or dental appointments, oversleeping and working.

It said that the decision to authorise absences rests with schools and not parents.

The figures for unauthorised absences were obtained by Schools Week from 114 councils in England through Freedom of Information requests.

Their research shows that parents face a postcode lottery over fines depending on where they live.

Figures show that in the last academic year there were 13 authorities where fewer than 100 fines were handed out for unauthorised absences.

Of these, there were four areas where no penalty notices were issued.

At the other end of the scale, there were 30 authorities that gave out more than 1,000 fines.

Some areas have higher numbers of schools than others, which can have an impact on the number of fines issued, such as an authority with a smaller number of schools is likely to issue fewer penalties.

Unauthorised absence fines came under the spotlight again last year due to the case of Jon Platt, who lost a landmark legal battle at the UK's highest court last April over taking his daughter to Disney World during school time.