PARENTS of truants are about to be handed fixed penalty fines for failing to send their children to school.

Bury Council bosses are using new anti-social behaviour laws to force parents to take their responsibilities seriously.

In the next fortnight, every one of Bury's 28,000 pupils will be handed a warning letter to take home explaining the tough new scheme.

The fines are £50 if paid within 28 days, rising to £100 by 42 days. After that, the council will take out a prosecution where court fines can reach £1,000.

Penalties will be issued if a child misses 20 school sessions in a ten-week period, and for unauthorised holidays during term-time.

And, to combat lateness, anyone showing up after the register has been taken on just ten occasions in ten weeks will also trigger a fine.

Education chiefs say the fines are an additional way of promoting parental responsibility, alongside parenting contracts. The council prosecuted 28 people last year, but anticipate that this number -- including penalty notices -- could rise significantly.

Government figures show that only ten per cent of persistent truants achieve five A*-C grades compared with 38 per cent of occasional truants and 58 per cent of non-truants. Some 21 per cent of persistent truants have no qualifications, as opposed to three per cent of non-truants; and two-thirds of young offenders were truants.

Mr Alan Cogswell, social inclusion service manager, said the council was determined to cut the rate of absence.

"There's a direct link between regular attendance and pupil achievement," he said. "We want every child to have the best opportunities they can have, and they cannot do that if they are not in the classroom. We make no apologies for serving penalty notices and prosecutions on parents because they are doing their children a great dis-service."

He said the fines would give parents early warning that the level of their child's absence was unacceptable. Figures show that Bury is the eighth best in the country in tackling truancy, he said, but the authority wanted to be the best.

Mr Cogswell said the council was working hard to support parents.