Call for government action over increased holiday prices during school holidays

[CatherineHMumsnet]

Following the story today on how a father's Facebook rant about how travel companies increase holiday prices during the school holidays encouraged 143,000 people to sign a petition calling for government action, we were wondering what Mumsnetters' opinions were on the subject.

Are you sick of being forced to pay dramatically higher prices to take a holiday when schools are out? Or do you see it, as ABTA do, as a straightforward issue of supply and demand?

It's supply and demand. The government can't interfere in this.

I'm sure 135,000 would also sign a petition that they hope would make it cheaper for them to own a swanky car too.

It's supply and demand and I won't be signing the petition. However I do not agree with the blanket ban at all! It does nothing to address the problem of families who persistently allow their children to truant. It's the usual sledgehammer to crack a walnut.

Wallison, how would your idea of lying to school and taking a term time holiday prevent boredom in the actual summer holidays? Surely it would just leave even more time to fill, as less of it would be taken up travelling?

The more dramatic prices are due to the tightening of government restrictions on no leave of absence in term time.

With one in five of us now shift workers and a family more likely than ever to have two working parents, international holidays for a family are now limited to the privately-educated wealthier families only.

Whilst ordinary families will be restricted further and further to lose out on family time during the precious childhood years.

(Ridiculous to target the travel companies though - target the restrictive government who are trying to make state education so unattractive to force more families into private education. )

Catherine if you really want to set up a petition that would make a real difference to parents lives then this isn't it. the real issue is not being able to take kids on holiday in term time any more. I have bored for Britain about this on other threads so will spare you. but, I am in a job where I cannot take holiday ever in school holidays as this is when I and my team have to work. all my staff have children. they cant go off in school hols either. there are lots and lots in my position. under the old system we negotiated time away with the school heads. we took it when it minimised disruption and my kids had all the notes scanned and copied by buddies. this is not about a week in florida its about a wet December week in North wales. start this petition and I would sign it. people on MN are just beginning to realise that it isn't just a case of stump up the £60 per child per parent and go but that it is a criminal offence. all on the say so of one head teacher who codes your absence as unauthorised. this is what you should be getting het up about - a stupid unfair law made to deal with a non existent problem that will really hit families hard.

Children benefit enormously from family holidays. It's about their lives, not about children limiting parents' lives.

We need to change the ridiculous, stupid, dictatorial blanket ban on holidays in term time, instead of futile meddling in free market economics.

More travelled, cultured children have got to benefit the country as they grow up into well-rounded, educated adults. Holidays are not the only way to achieve well-roundedness, but are a bloody good help in the modern hectic ft working family lives.

I think it's ridiculous that parents feel so entitled to holidays! I would never take DC out of school for a holiday, it's unbelievably disrespectful to the school. The current situation is fine.

It's supply and demand - holiday companies have to make a profit somehow, or is that what people are objecting to?!

We haven't been on a holiday for years, but taking DC out of school just isn't an option. It's the principle - I find it utterly shocking that people do it - the teachers are unable to do anything when little Jocasta comes in after a fortnight in Thailand all tanned and smiling, and all her classmates are asking where she's been, and it's the summer holidays in a month's time. So selfish of the parents.

Supply and demand, yes. But demand is bottlenecked by set holiday dates (which State has some control over). So prices higher during those periods.

What can be done?

Allow more flexibility in school holiday dates, but you then have other major issues...around school/exam planning, term time working, viability of holiday camps, different family members having different holiday dates...not to mention who wants to have their Xmas holiday in February.

Force holiday companies to lower their prices? A tad Stalinist (even if legal) and would probably result in many ceasing to trade. Most work on low margins in any case. And if you're thinking of foreign holidays, forget it. Probably not one worth launcing the battleships over (even if we had any left).

Possibilities-

State holiday camps (again a tad Stalinist, although I could see Cleggy making a successful second career as a Red Coat).

Make the best of it (and don't get too P* off when you see photos of the PM sunning it up in the Med somewhere during that very long Parliamentary Recess).

Or, go back to what we used to have....headteachers having the ability to use their discretion to agree up to a fortnights absence in certain circumstances.

This is something that the goverment has recently changed via The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013. Now permission can only be granted in exceptional circumstances and I think holidays are expressly excluded as a reason.

Whilst I agree that attendance is very important, I do feel desperately sorry for the family recently fined.....

I haven't checked out the petition yet, and think the options (realistically) are limited, but equally there is scope for change and clearer guidance. The recent changes don't strike me as family friendly and seem a bit of another covert kick in the teeth from the Coalition.

DD is not yet three and I know I have all this to come.

However, I think this petition is crazy. Why would the government interfere in a simple supply and demand model?

I'd like to go on holiday in March for the same price as it costs in June. But it's nicer weather in June, so more people want to go away in June, and so the price doesn't need to be set to attract me because if I won't pay it, someone else will. It's not complicated.

Little Jocasta though will probably be more aware of the world she lives in and realise that not everyone fits into some government dictated model.

Again, not every parent can get leave in holiday periods. Why on earth shouldn't families enjoy holidays together? It'd be a crap childhood if some families because of circumstances never got to enjoy time together because the government said so.

I think its great, it means I get cheaper holidays out of school hol season

it is now in my interest to keep the status quo - however once upon a time I took my kids out of school for a week.

we were dirt poor, but my kids got a holiday most years we went camping in france. and I don't regret a single moment

For Christ sake. It's supply and demand.

They have made it a criminal offence for trying to do the best for your children!!!

Whe ther you agree or disagree with my opinion of what is best for my children; in a "free" country, where my choices are not harmful to my children, and may even be beneficial to them, how the hell can the government make them a fucking criminal offence??

Why not confine this to GCSE years then? That may actually make a bit of sense.....

I would say, in a gloomy economic period, it would be in the governmrnt's interest to avoid making petty draconian rules that just piss people off more. Feel good factor anyone?

I think MNhQ need to make it more know that this decision on how to parent your child is now a criminal offence. That's what a lot of people don't understand I think. Also I think if this stupid rule is to stay then the LEA need to make the rules clear and concise.

This is from my local councils website

School Holidays in Term Time
Home -> Education and learning -> Schools and colleges -> Term, holiday and other closure dates

Attending School

Holidays in Term Time
The Department for Education (DFE) has announced important amendments to legislation surrounding holidays in term time.

From the 1 September 2013, the new law gives no entitlement to parents to take their child on holiday during term time. Any application for leave must only be in exceptional circumstances and the Head Teacher must be satisfied that the circumstances are exceptional and warrant the granting of leave. Head teachers would not be expected to class any term time holiday as exceptional. Parents can be fined by the Local Authority for taking their child on holiday during term time without consent from school.

In the academic year 2011 to 2012, 9.7% of all absences in England were due to parents taking their children out of school during term time. This high level of absence has led the DFE to make this important change to legislation.

As a Local Authority, we fully appreciate the financial difficulties that some parents face when booking holidays, particularly during school holidays. However, we are expecting that all schools in Tameside introduce firm policies and stringent checks to ensure that there is a significant reduction in the number of absences being authorised by school during term time.

Further information can be obtained from www.dfe.gov.uk .

Families can enjoy time together whether they get 2 weeks in Spain or not. You don't actually have to go away somewhere to spend 'quality time' together as a family.

Nor do many holidays do anything to broaden anyone's horizons or give them an appreciation of the diversity of the world. 2 weeks all inclusive in a holiday resort booked entirely by British travel companies that you never leave isn't exactly anthropological fieldwork (unless your topic is British all inclusive holidaymakers).

9.7% of all absences? Hardly a huge percentage

So the vast majority are either illness, compassionate leave or truanting then?

What would perhaps be more effective at reducing the overall absence figure would be to fine parents who insist on sending their DCs to school when they have a D&V bug thereby spreading it around the school and resulting in everyone needing 2-3 days off.

It's nice for families to relax together away from the stresses of home though, even if it's a week on a campsite together.

I'd agree that not every holiday is culturally enlightening, but even travelling through an airport or a ferry port is a learning experience.

And again, NOT EVERY FAMILY CAN GET TIME OFF IN THE HOLIDAYS! Why should those children miss out?

The ban on term time holidays and the price differential on holidays at different times based on supply and demand are entirely different issues.

The Facebook rant and petition is about not liking the price. We may as well complain that we don't like the price charged for lobster when all the people eating fish fingers get their tea for less.

Ludicrous! A holiday is not a necessity nor a right and I agree that for parents to feel entitled to a cheap holiday is naïve

Life is about compromises and if supply and demand means you cannot afford something it's sad but tough.

My DS has had to move down south for work and is struggling because rents and property prices are so high in London, should I start a petition about that?

Madness!

Should they be criminalised for that decision though?

You can have a weekend camping in a campsite too; it doesn't have to be a week all in one go. You can learn about travel by going through a bus or a train station (and not travelling very far).

My parents took us on fancy exotic holidays when they were together. After they split up my mum couldn't afford that so we went on car trips (stocked up with budget supermarket fare to eat) to random cheap and basic youth hostels in places that weren't huge tourist magnets (not those swanky top of the range ones) with my mum and my aunt, uncle and cousins. They were still great holidays and I have brilliant memories of them. Or we'd go for a cheap week in a caravan park that my mum and aunt had got vouchers to make cheaper. My cousins and I were teenagers at the time and we genuinely enjoyed it.

So you went on cheap weeks away then? Why deny that to other families now and make them criminals if they want a week away in term time?

Why not allow families to take time off in July at primary school. Or December? I know my son does next to bloody nothing those times. Hours and hours rehearsing plays, watching DVDs and having parties. Why not give parents leeway then?

There are no random cheap and basic youth hostels any more though - they all charge the same as a B&B these days. And if you haven't got a car, you can forget about camping. It's actually quite difficult to holiday on the cheap. Unless you go to relatives. But then your kids will hate you.