Currency analysts FairFX has produced research on the price of a typical February half-term holiday.
It reports that an all-inclusive break in Barbados with Virgin Holidays, for two adults and two children, costs £2,919 in early February. However the price leaps to £9,914 for the week beginning February 13, when most British schools are on half term. It seems that during school breaks holiday costs can be up to three-and-a-half times higher, while flights are nine times more expensive.
So understandably, many parents wanting a family holiday combat this price hike by removing their children from school to avoid that peak season. Now, some parents face being criminalised for doing so.
In January, a case has gone to the Supreme Court involving the decision of Isle of Wight Council to fine a parent who took his daughter out of school for one week in term time.
Lawyers representing the parent stated that with more than 4 million days of unauthorised absence in England’s state schools each year, upholding that penalty would criminalise parents.
Government lawyers representing the Department for Education told the court it would be absurd to allow parents to remove their children from state schools “when the sun is out”.
In lower court proceedings the parent had successfully challenged the Council’s fine. Lord Neuberger, the Court’s President, said judgment would be reserved until a later date.
This is a decision that will be keenly watched for and likely will receive a lot of press coverage. The Government’s laudable aim to reduce unauthorised absence from school versus the understandable wish of a family to have a vacation, but without being hit with prices that rocket just because it is in school holidays.
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