A primary school in Kent is to fine parents who are late picking their children up at the end of the day.
A new policy at Holy Trinity in Gravesend, states parents and carers will be fined £1 every five minutes per child if they fail to arrive at the school gates on time.
If a parent has still not arrived by 4.00pm - half an hour after the 3.30pm finish time - social services will be contacted, under a policy that was introduced earlier this month.
A letter will be sent to parents requesting the money, then followed up with a phone call.
One parent, who didn't wish to be named, told KentOnline: "As parents of the school we were shocked and appalled to receive this notification from the school.
"Gravesend is a deprived area and many parents struggle to work due to the cost of childcare. Lots of schools finish around the same time and this means that it is a struggle to get kids on time.
"The school used to let kids wait in the library then we were told the library was closed for refurbishments.The school did offer an after school club a couple of years ago but this was closed by the head teacher with little notice because it didn't make enough money.
"The letter says that if kids aren't picked up by 4pm the school will ring social services, we think the fact that the governors have agreed to impose this is disgraceful and must be illegal."
Fines will not be issued when there are "reasonable circumstances" for lateness, such as car accidents, illness and flooding.
The school said the cost of paying staff to care for uncollected children had become unsustainable and would impact its finances.
Head teacher Denise Gibbs-Naguar said a "significant number" of pupils were regularly waiting for their parents for longer than 30 minutes after the school finished.
She said the pupils "exhibit signs of anxiety and distress" and "worry that something may have happened" to their parents, adding: "Clearly this is not something anyone wants a child to experience."
But the National Education Union believes this would just "undermine positive relationships with parents".
Jerry Glazier, of the NEU, said the union was against the idea that "fining parents is the right way to engage in the issue".
He said it was crucial "parents understand why particular actions are detrimental to the school, but the best way of doing that is through proper meaningful engagement, not by punitive actions like fining".
He added: "I don't think there's any legal power that enables a school to fine parents and that's probably the end of it."
Mr Glazier also suggested involving social services would be wrong.
