Charlotte Crouch and her husband decided to take their four children out of school for five days to celebrate her dad and step-mother’s 25th wedding anniversary in Gran Canaria, Spain, on June 1.Despite receiving a £480 fine from the Devon County Council for the children’s absence from school, 36-year-old Charlotte explained on social media that she saved £2,500 by booking the trip during term time, and called the decision a ‘no-brainer’. Indeed, despite being upfront with the school about the decision, the mother-of-four claims to have been ‘punished’ with a hefty fine from Devon County Council on June 30, for just three of her children.Local councils can issue a fine of £80 per parent for a child’s unauthorised absence from school, including holidays during term time.If parents fail to pay the fine within a 21-day timeframe, this amount doubles. Should the fine remain unpaid, the parents may also face prosecution.The content creator slammed the council’s decision on Facebook.Her post reads: ‘I think it’s so wild that we can get fines for taking our kids on holidays. It was still cheaper than going in school holidays so meh.’Defiant Charlotte says she has ‘no regrets’, and defends the trip, which she believes to have been ‘educational’, claiming her kids learned how to swim and went dolphin-watching in the wild. Content creator Charlotte Crouch and her husband decided to take their four children out of school during term time for a family trip, calling the decision a ‘no brainer’ Charlotte and her husband were fined £480 for their children’s absence from school, but still saved £2,500 by travelling outside of school holidaysCharlotte from Exeter, Devon, said: ‘It’s a ridiculous amount of money to be fining me that much. It just feels so wrong, it feels like a money-making scheme.’I knew I was going to get it. We factored it in and it was so much cheaper to go on the holiday and get a fine than it was to go during the school holidays.’For us it was a no-brainer. It’s so much cheaper and it just makes sense to go and save the money.’My husband does work in agriculture so it does make it trickier going in August holidays.’It was a special holiday because it was my dad and stepmother celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary so they were having a vow renewal.’It would be heartbreaking for my kids to miss out on an occasion like that. We wouldn’t take them away if they were doing GCSEs. They’re not missing super-valuable school time.’ Charlotte explained that the trip was especially significant, as her father and stepmother were celebrating their 25th anniversary with a vow renewal. She says it would have been ‘heartbreaking’ for her children to have missed such an occasionDevon County Council said that they cannot comment about individual cases, although a spokesperson commented more generally on the situation, saying: ‘Schools must authorise pupils’ absence during term time on a case-by-case basis, and grant leave only in exceptional circumstances.’The Department for Education’s guidance states that holiday is generally not considered an exceptional circumstance.’We follow the national framework, which says that absences not approved by the school are treated as being unauthorised.’Therefore, while we may have some sympathy about the costs of family holidays out of term time, parents who take their children out of school as unauthorised leave will expect a fine.’