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?

yes but the housewives of mumsnet know far better wallison! it's easy, cheap and fun honest.

oh for goodness sakes you silly peasants, just load up the landrover and get hubby to drive to a jolly nice campsite. or get yourselves one of those holiday cottages by a loch - they only cost £500 a week. that's cheaper than the last foreign holiday we went on (to the maldives in august in a 5 star resort featured in hello magazine).

idiots just don't know how to do things properly.

if you wouldn't go squandering money on that damned smartphone you could afford a landrover and a cottage in the highlands. i bet you smoke as well! that £15 a week you spend on tobacco could have bought you a holiday home if you'd only quit ten thousand years ago and saved the money.

Numpty, is anyone on this thread talking to you like that?

Camping may well not be possible for everyone or even everyone's idea of a holiday.. Agreed.

The fact is that not everyone can afford to go away on a holiday of any sort. That's just the way it is. Holidays away are luxuries that the state does not need to get involved in ensuring everyone has, either by making companies charge less in school holidays or enabling people to take their children out of school to access cheaper prices out of school holidays.

People have 3 options.. They can either pay the higher prices in school holidays, if they can afford them. They can take their children out of school for holidays, which is not allowed and accept that they are breaking the rules and might be fined. Or they can accept that like many other things, holidays in school holiday periods are not affordable for them at the moment.
The choice is quite simple really. The problem is that people want holidays at cheap rates and will do whatever is necessary to get them, which often means taking them out of school. They don't like the rules because they don't suit them. Therefore they try to find arguments to justify why they are special cases or to criticise the government for removing choice.

Either we want the provision of a state education (and most people do think education should be compulsory thankfully.....although some only want it when it is convenient for them and they don't want to be on holiday) or we don't. We either value schooling or we don't. I just think there is too much wanting to have whatever is convenient (and cheap) for us, rather than seeing the bigger picture.

another option being withdraw your children from state schooling and live free from the nanny state.

The government is interfering - they forced schools to abandon the old regulation which allowed schools to authorise up to 10 days holiday in term-time. Far more sensible to have a system that allows parents and schools to make decisions rather than a blanket ban imposed by a government that wants to look tough.

Yes but there was inconsistency then. Some schools openly said people could have up to 10 days. Others said they would not authorise any holiday leave. There was a mixed message about whether it was acceptable to take children out. Schools never wanted children to go on holiday in term time, but allowing it, it sent the message that it was acceptable. In some places it became the norm for people to take 2 weeks, almost as their right.

You may be right that the government wants to look tough. They want to look tough because the impact of absence is significant. People are thinking twice before booking those term time holidays. They don't want to be fined and they don't want to be law breakers. This is a policy with teeth. Simply asking parents not to take their children out has not worked and more severe measures have been needed.
So yes, the government is interfering. But it is not in terms of the economy and prices, as the petition wanted.
If you think Government saying there are consequences for taking children out of school is a nanny state to be avoided, do you also think that about laws about children buying alcohol, or smoking, or even saying children should be educated. Should all of that be left to the discretion of parents?
As I said before, some people want the state to provide education (but that is okay and not interfering or nanny state) but all on their own terms.

there is certainly proof that persistant poor attendance (which is generally accompanied by various socio economic difficulties and problems at home that in themselves effect achievement) has an impact on educational outcomes. where is the proof that an otherwise well attending child whose parents take an active role in their education has their academic outcomes damaged by having a week off at the end of the summer term or just before christmas when very little active learning is going on?

or are we all fine and dandy now with all of us being controlled to the nth degree in case it makes a teeny tiny impact on the 0,1% who don't give a flying fuck anyway?

I am happy to support this decision which they believe will raise educational standards. I cannot afford those holidays in school holiday periods and I accept that.

Numpty

Are you upsetting people? . Play nicely now.

I do think that most of society have let themselves become controlled in many aspects. If you wonder from the norm you are either a villain, feckless, . Years ago you would have been called alternative or something else that isn't derogatory.

If you feel badly enough about not having a holiday during term time then do something about it, take the kids out, pay the fine etc.
Life isn't fair though and holidays are not an entitlement.

Numpty.

I dunno, I suppose you either value travel or you don't. I do, and I think it's good for my son to see a bit of the world he's growing up in. Sure, he could wait and do it when he's older, just as he could wait and read books when he's older, or learn to cook when he's older, or any of the other things, including travel, that I enjoy doing with him and watching him experiencing and learning from.

Why don't we just start a petition to lobby for the government to sort out the weather in this country.

If we had lovely long hot summers starting in late June and running through to October, perhaps people could wait for the school holidays as they'd guaranteed a lovely sunny break with swimming, picnicking and beach trips possible practically any day of the week. Camping would appeal more so cheap holidays in the U.K. would be less of a lottery as to the experience you risk having.

Problem solved, no ?

Well it's just as feasible as holiday companies staying in business if they charged term time prices all year round. The fool on you-tube has no idea of how much the all year round cost would go up if there was no premium in the school hols. People wouldn't pay the increase in term-time prices needed to make up for the drop in school holiday time prices so companies would go bust or only operate in the school holidays thereby having no price comparisons available to be made.

I'm still intrigued to know why MNHQ started this thread in the first place. Were they actually considering backing this campaign?

flowery

I too thought this from the title, just couldn't see it coming from MNHQ, its not as though the gov can do anything about it anyway.
Perhaps they like their cheap hols too, perhaps they can't afford summer hol prices, do they have goats I wonder?

MNHQ - Do you have goats and are you poor?

I am waiting for MNHQ to start a campaign I can support. this certainly isn't one of them. a bit more campaigning to give parents back some rights and responsibilities in relation to their kids would be a really good start.

Maybe MNHQ just jumped on the bandwagon without thinking it through, or maybe the are just genuinely asking what people think.

Frankly mn shouldn't be associating with this empty froth,affordable holiday is leisure not a right
Supply and demand.at peak times the price escalates.
Other business follow this model eg catering.a meal at Xmas/valentine will be more expensive due to demand

Imagine if meals out on Xmas day were the same price as all year round. I would never cook on Xmas day again.

Agreed. I wouldn't cook either.

Perhaps the next thing will be a campaigns to say all restaurants should offer Christmas dinner at £7.95 so people can afford it. It is their right to have a restaurant cooked Christmas dinner. Sorry, not £7.95, because still some people wouldn't be able to afford it. Perhaps the restaurants should have to provide it for £3.95 or even free, like NHS. Because Christmas dinners and holidays away are in the same category of being essential.
Sorry for the sarcasm. I just liked Grennies example and could see how it showed the lack of logic in the case for government intention on holiday prices.

Numpty 'camping is not really an option with only one person to carry stuff and no car', well I never got the memo telling me not to go camping when I became a single parent. It's a fantastic option, I've done it often with my DC and if there are DC involved then it isn't only one person to carry stuff, they carry their stuff. Rethink your kit if it's not possible to carry it all.

Grennie it's not massively hard work unless of course you are trying to bring a car load of stuff without a car or don't have the right gear.

Wallison you went to the wrong shop!

You need a pack or collapsible wheelie bag or bike and bike panniers, a lightweight compact tent, compact sleeping bags, SIMs, compact cooking gear and child caring their sleeping bag, clothes & SIM, or just clothes if they're tiny. I've done it with a 4 year old. You will probably have to forget about having a tent carpet and folding wardrobe though.

Picking campsites handy for public transport can be tricky as mostly they are geared up for car travel.

one adult, one small child. how much would you have a small child carry on public transport? kit at minimum needs to be tent, sleeping bag, cooking equipment, food, water, clothes.... but sure yes, i'm just not hardcore enough and poor people nepal carry loads fit for camels etc.

how much does this 'right gear' cost by the way? because what with that and uk train fares and taxis to get to rural sites and any money you might want to actually spend i am totally sure it's cheaper for me to fly somewhere and stay in rented accommodation.

I think we should have staggered holidays as they do in the States. Yes, it may be that some people take children out of school unnecessarily but... For those of us with no family in the country, having everyone going on holidays at the same time is a catastrophe... I don't take my child off school during term time, but since the new measures I cannot longer afford to see my family, the prices have gone up by hundreds of pounds!

Numpty - As a one off yes. But once you have the gear you can use it again and again.

Other option is youth hostelling. Lots of them have family rooms. They are cheaper than B&B's and you have a kitchen you can cook in, if you want to. You get youth hostels in Cities, by the seaside and in the countryside.