Holiday fines for taking kids out of school, is the government missing the point?

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With the government announcing today they’re increasing the fine from £60 to £80 per parent, does anyone else think the government is missing the point here? I assume that the reason most parents have holidays during term time is to avoid the extortionate cost of going during the 6 week summer break. Wouldn’t it be better to clamp down on holiday companies hiking their charges instead… or am I missing something?

Yes you are. It’s called supply and demand.

The holiday company are businesses not charities.

Holiday companies are entitled to set prices as they see fit and make a profit. I don’t think people would be very happy if the government started interfering with private businesses in the way you are suggesting.

Holiday companies are private businesses and can charge what they like. As pp said it's supply and demand. You don't have to go on holiday, day trips are available all year round.

I still think £80 is too cheap. If it costs an extra £100 to book in school holidays then the parent is only losing out on £20.

How would the government 'clamp down' on holiday companies? They're private businesses, many of them not even based in the UK. They're not regulated utilities where the government can justify setting a price cap.

I agree with the above, going away for a holiday isn't a right it's a luxury. If you cant afford to go in the school holidays or just don't want to pay the higher prices then you must accept that you may get a fine.

I’d imagine this would lead to the holiday companies keeping their prices the same all year round. And it won’t be the discounted low season prices that the prices gets set at.

Not to mention that the companies themselves don’t set the prices on foreign hotels or airline companies.

Not quite sure how the government would go about clamping down on foreign based companies... And yes, it's purely supply and demand - that's how capitalism works.

When people are saving hundreds or even thousands on holidays, I doubt an extra £20 on the fine will make much difference. Even per parent per child, it will still be much less than the holiday price difference, unless you have loads of children!

DH and I were talking about this this morning - do they even have any evidence these fines are a deterrent? As far as I can tell people just treat them as a holiday cost and they're still a lot less than holiday price hikes! When the kids were at primary school there were always quite a lot of kids going on family holidays early/ coming back late each term.

Wouldn’t it be better to clamp down on holiday companies hiking their charges instead…or am I missing something?

Yes, you are. These are private businesses, they can charge what they like.

Watch carefully what is happening in Wales and with the Nuffield research in England and the suggestions about making the Summer holidays only 4 weeks. This will probably make the school
holidays twice the price they are now, with parents fighting to get the week off they want with everyone else in the office. It’s bad enough when you have 6 weeks to choose from, let alone 4!

Rishi Sunak’s wife will probably start buying shares in holiday hotels and airlines…

And bear in mind that many MPs send their kids to private schools which have longer summer holidays anyway (more time to go away off peak) and private schools don’t have attendance fines. This is just for the likes of us!

The thing that bothers me, is I know that while this is being portrayed as term time holidays, many, many parents get fined who would love their children to just go to school, but the children have long term absences for various reasons, mental and physical health usually.

Even if the parents are feckless, the kids are truanting and the parents don't know where their kids are I don't see how fining the parents helps the child in that situation.

Sorry to jump on, is the fine per parent per day? So if you took them out for 6 days.youd be charged £960 per child, or is it £160 for the one holiday?

I do think they are missing the point. But the solution is not holding down the prices.

They need to focus on persistent absence and its causes.

But also we used to go away for 2 weeks for 800 shared with my parents in devon.
When dc became school age the place renovated and became much more expensove plus obviously school hol prices.
Then covid pushed prices up and gas and electric.

Then theres a lot of kids with relatives etc abroad. We are visiting some in holidays its costing 3k for the flights alone.
I dont agree with term time holidays.

Focus on

Secondary kids and y6.

Parents have to pay school hol prices from when oldest is 4-5yo.

Some youngest sibs therefore only ever go places when they are rammed.

In theory, you can be fined per parent per half day. However, what actually happens is up to your LA. Most don't fine at that level. Some fine per day but cap the fine after a few days, some fine per period of absence.

I agree with other posters that the government preventing holiday companies charging higher prices at periods of peak demand isn't going to happen and wouldn't work. Note that research a few years ago suggested that those parents who stated that high prices during the school holidays were the reason they took holidays in term time were generally those most able to afford the high prices.

Holiday companies can charge what they want. Holidays aren't a human right.

We have just paid our fine for holiday taken in November last year.
Full fine for two children with two parents being fined.
Still cheaper than going in the holidays!
We factor the fine within the cost of the holiday and balance it with what is going on at school.
I would think differently to taking them out if there were concerns re learning or development but both doing well ( which I am eternally grateful for).

Its no deterrent for me. Our summer holiday would have cost 1k more to go a few days later and cross over half term. I cannot afford to take my children away in the school holidays so we go in term time and I accept we may have to pay a fine. It works for my family.

That’s interesting to know. Anything I’ve read just says £x per parent per child’ but doesn’t mention whether it’s per session, per day or per period of absence so I was never sure. I didn’t realise that bit varied by LA.

Thing is I don’t think people taking their kids out for a week is the real problem. There are some kids who are seemingly off all the time for the most flakey of reasons. It’s that sort of persistent absence that is going to be more problematic.

Also lots of parents time holidays to avoid the fines (eg 3 or 4 days tagged on to a holiday when nothing much is happening at the end of term. I do think it is more questionable to do something like a 2 week block in the middle of a term but if someone has already made that choice, the fine is not going to be the factor that swings it- it’s more likely to be a big one-off holiday or travel to relatives etc.

The only reason demand is so high during school holidays is because parents are forced to go on holiday during those months, you take away the fine and parents can go on holiday when ever they want reducing demand during those months. Everyone wins well apart from greedy holiday firms

And apart from the children who have their education disrupted by parents taking them or their classmates out of school for term time holidays. And the teachers who have to cope with constant disruption and having to help children catch up with the education they have missed.

There is a clear link between the level of absence and educational outcomes. There is also plenty of evidence that children taken out of primary school during term time for holidays are more likely to play truant when they get older. The government is absolutely right to take measures that reduce persistent absenteeism.

These fines didn’t deter Tony Blair, who took his children to the Seychelles when they should have been at school, at a time when his own government was “cracking down” on term time holidays. Oh, and he threw in “we’re all middle class” for good measure: so much so that we can all afford holidays like that.

What’s really annoying is that, to justify these fines, the government keeps chanting “Research shows that every day of school missed worsens academic outcomes.” But, if you actually read the research they’re quoting, which I have indeed bothered to do, then what it showed was that children who bunk off without parental permission do indeed get crap exam results BUT children who miss school because parents are taking them on a term time holiday get better exam results than the children who attend school everyday. Ie termtime holidays are a good thing and improve academic outcomes. The government is very deceitful about this fact.