PARENTS whose children were off school without permission were forced to cough up more than £40,000 in fines in the past two school years.

Bracknell Forest schools issued 744 ‘fixed penalty notices’ (FPN) to parents of truanting kids from 2017 to 2019.

READ MORE: Council payouts to ex-employees cost the taxpayer £150,000 in 18 months

Councils and schools are allowed to hand out £60 fines if children are deemed to be missing classes without a good reason.

Bosses can issue parenting orders, a school attendance order, an education supervision order and a fine.

The penalty goes up to £120 if it is not paid within 21 days.

Those parents who do not pay up within four weeks of being given a fine can be prosecuted by the council and ordered to cough up £2,500 or could be given a jail sentence.

Of the 745 fines given out from 2017 to 2019, 96 per cent were paid within 28 days.

READ MORE: How many COVID-19 cases are there in your area?

The four per cent of parents who did not pay within the four-week limit were taken to court.

In total, the council made £44,260 from fines issued to parents whose kids were out-of-school without good reason.

Other Berkshire local authorities also revealed how many parents were given FPNs in a series of Freedom of Information requests made last year.

To the east of Bracknell Forest, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead only collected £17,987 from fewer than 500 fines, whereas Slough Borough schools raked in almost £157,000 from more than 3,200 FPNs across the same two-year period.

READ MORE: Council prepares for life to get back to normal

West of Bracknell Forest, Wokingham Borough schools pocketed £95,000 from more than 1,600 fines and in Reading borough education chiefs handed out more than 700 FPNs and got £37,200 back.