Refunds in School Trips.

[Justturned50]

Posting here for traffic. I've withdrawn my DS 14 from a 5 day trip to Paris and Disney as he is suffering from anxiety and won't be well enough to cope with the itinerary. Recent events mean that if I didn't pull him out the school would say he couldn't go. Does anyone have experience of getting a refund on a school trip due to illness?

Thanks London that's helpful.

My understanding having organised loads of trips, is that if school removes child from trip they have to refund parent. If parent removes child, no refund given.
The school will be in the difficult position of having paid everything to the travel company; they have two options, either find a replacement or claim on the insurance.

what does posting here for traffic mean?

Id have thought you have to pay the deposit at the very least but maybe the full balance. Did you get group insurance of individual insurance. Talk to school really but if you booked a holiday yourself you have to pay full amount this close and climb back on insurance. Hope son better soon x

The school will have an insurance policy in place for the trip that may or may not cover your child dropping out due to illness - you’d have to ask the school for the details. If there’s a waiting list then possibly the place can be filled by someone else and you’d be able to get some money back. In either scenario there is a lot of extra work on behalf of the school so they may not be keen. Filling in the insurance claim will take hours, as will changing the name of a pupil on the trip (updating the travel company, medical lists, contacting parents of said replacement, passport photocopies etc-and teachers don’t get extra time for this so essentially some extra voluntary work). (I’ve organisd many trip and last minute changes and insurance claims are a huge pain).However, it sounds like the school aren’t letting ds go on the trip so it’s probably worth pushing them to consider it.

I organised a trip where a child cancelled because of anxiety. School was close to saying he couldn't go anyway because of behaviour but that would have left the parents out of pocket (although I suspect the head would have backed down on that if pushed).

His GP wrote a letter saying he wasn't fit to go and the tour operator/insurance refunded. The school had booked the trip and the insurance as a package.

Thanks everyone. Looks like there is something we can do. 😊