The number of fines issued for school absences has increased by more than a fifth in the past year, new findings suggest.

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows that county councils, unitary authorities and London boroughs issued 213,709 penalty notices to parents for unauthorised absences in 2018-19, up from 176,115 the previous year.

The biggest rise in penalties was attributed to county councils, which issued 102,968 notices in the past academic year, compared with 82,130 in 2017-18 - an increase of 25 per cent.

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Meanwhile, the number of penalty notices issued by unitary authorities and London boroughs rose by 19 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

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Training company The Knowledge Academy submitted freedom of information requests to all county councils, unitary authorities and London boroughs, asking how many penalty notices were issued in the 2018-19 and 2017-18 academic years. It also requested the amount of revenue collected by each authority.

The number of penalties issued rose for 96 per cent of county councils, 82 per cent of unitary authorities and 76 per cent of London boroughs.

Of all the county councils, Gloucestershire had the sharpest increase in penalties and revenue collected from fines. The number of penalty notices issued by the council increased by 183.8 per cent, while revenue rose by 194.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, Oxfordshire was the only county that saw a fall in penalty notices. It issued 152 notices in 2018-19, down from 159 in 2017-18 - a 4.4 per cent decrease.

Of the unitary authorities and London boroughs, Cornwall and Hackney saw the biggest proportional increases in penalties - with rises of 186 per cent and 169 per cent respectively.

The data does not cover metropolitan district councils. Data covering the whole country is usually released by the Department for Education later in the year.

In October, government data revealed that the proportion of pupils taking unauthorised absence to go on holiday had risen to its highest level since records began.