Kent has fined nearly 14,500 parents who allowed their children to miss school over the last four years, more than any other council in England.

Kent also tops the list for the amount of money collected, with total fines amounting to more than half a million pounds.

The figures are partly due to the size of the county, but Kent County Council admits it is particularly hot on punishing parents who break the rules.

There has been an upward trend in the number of fines issued in England over the past three years, a pattern reflected in Kent.

According to figures requested from councils by Afternoon Edition – BBC Radio 5Live - in 2011/12 there were just over 31,000 notices issued, compared to 78,000 in 2013/14.

Between 2011 and 2015, Kent County Council issued the most Fixed Penalty Notices in England, with almost 14,500 parents fined.

Kent County Council also issued the most fines over the last school year, giving out more than 5,500.

Roger Gough, KCC cabinet member for education said: “Kent's schools take a robust approach to improving attendance as there is clear evidence of a link between poor attendance at school and low levels of achievement.

“Schools use a range of strategies, including helping parents to be aware of the impact of persistent absence, as well as improved monitoring of attendance in schools with targeted support for individual pupils.

“There are also more requests from schools, asking Kent County Council for penalty notices to be issued to parents – especially for unauthorised holidays in term time.

“From September 2011, the Dfe raised expectations by changing the threshold by which a pupil may be considered to be persistently absent from 20% to 15% of their school time, in order to encourage schools to intervene more effectively, take action sooner and further improve pupil attendance."

Parents who continue to flout the rules can be prosecuted, and Kent comes second only to Doncaster when it comes to taking legal action.

Kent prosecuted 701 parents last year, compared to Doncaster's 1,017, but only one person ended up in jail as a result.