The number of parents being taken to court over unauthorised absences of their children from school in Neath Port Talbot has almost doubled in the last year.

There has also been an increase in the number of parents being fined. The rise has come as schools crack down on the number of both authorised sick days and authorised holidays during term time.

According to a report which went before councillors on Thursday, July 26, attendance significantly improved for two-thirds of pupils immediately after their parents were fined.

The number of fines issued to parents from September 2017 to May 2018 was 142 comapred to 122 being issued over the entire academic year of 2016-17. And 76 parents were prosecuted from September 2017 to May 2018 compared to 40 for the whole of the last academic year.

Officers state in the report: “Unverified data by Welsh Government shows a good reduction in the number of pupils classified as persistently absent among secondary-aged pupils within Neath Port Talbot.”

They add: “Prior to the issuing of a penalty notice or commencement of court proceedings individual cases are assessed and carefully considered on their own merit.”

During the year, from September to the end of June, 44 primary schools in the county reported a decrease in their attendance compared with the same period last year while 15 primary schools increased their attendance.

In the secondary sector six schools reported a decrease in attendance and five schools increased their attendance.

Speaking at the education skills and culture cabinet board meeting the council’s school and family support team manager John Burge said attendance figures had been affected by a couple of factors.

He said: “There was a spike in September of unauthorised absences with parents taking children on holidays.

“It was the highest we had seen in five years and then January and February were particularly bad months with illness due to an outbreak of chicken pox and scarlet fever.

"Schools have struggled to claw back some of their attendance figures since then but given all of that these figures are pretty good.” From September to June primary sector attendance rate stood at 94.28%, which saw a 0.40% decrease compared to the same period the previous year.

The secondary sector attendance rate for the same period was 93.31%, which saw a 0.01% decrease compared to the previous year. Head of transformation Andrew Thomas said persistent absenteeism was 70% and below.

He said: “Bearing in mind our levels of deprivation and additional learning needs our actual attendance is among the highest in Wales because we have invested in driving absenteeism out.”

Councillor Rebeca Phillips said pressure needed to be put on holiday companies to stop the high increase in prices during school holidays. She said: “The last week of term was a £1,000 cheaper than the week after. “What do you do as a parent? It’s good for children to have new experiences and see different places as well.”

Mr Thomas said he was “far less concerned” about a child with a 90% attendance rate who went on holiday for a fortnight during term time than a child with a 70% attendance rate who was hardly ever at school.

A further report on persistent absenteeism will come before councillors in the autumn.