The Supreme Court has backed a Government policy that parents should not take their children on holiday during school term time.
The policy, which fines parents if their children take ski holidays or are absent for other reasons other than ‘exceptional circumstances’ in term time, was strengthened by then Education minister Michael Gove in 2013 but had been challenged by a parent who had won a court case on the Isle of Wight in 2015 arguing that there was no actual law defining how much school attendance was reasonable and that although he took his children on holiday they still had a very high attendance record.
The Supreme Court however decided that the state not the parent was responsible for a child’s school attendance in England (education is devolved in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland where the rules are more flexible).
Over 90,000 parents were fined a total of £5.6m for taking their children on term-time holidays during the 2014-15 academic year with the risk of imprisonment if fines are not paid promptly. Many other parents and their children are believed to lie about their reason for being absent to avoid the fines. Polls have shown more than 80% of parents and more than 60% of teachers (who cannot take family holidays outside school holidays themselves) think the rules in England are wrong.
For families wishing to take their children on ski holidays the ruling for those with school age children in England means they are limited to the Christmas/New Year, February or Easter holidays, the busiest and most expensive of the ski season as other European nations tend to have their school holidays at the same time.
The government’s position ruling does not appear to take in to consideration the health and educational values of winter sports holidays where children benefit from exercise and exposure to foreign culture and languages as well as helping to cement family ties, all apparently stated aims of the government and yet apparently ignored and rejected by this decision, which effectively discriminates against families based on their wealth.
Data on just how much more ski holidays cost in school holiday periods compared to term time is limited but Skyscanner compared the average flight price of flights from UK to the destinations the week before last Easter’s holiday and the first week of last year’s Easter Holiday.
“Each destination is cheaper outside of School hols but the more popular the destination the more money can be saved,” said Emma Wiseman of Skyscanner.
The results were that Geneva was 24.8% cheaper the week before Easter holiday in 2016 compared to the first week of the Easter Holiday 2016, Salzburg 17.5% cheaper, Innsbruck 14.7% cheaper and Chambery 16.7%. It’s believed that price differences around the February holiday period are even more dramatic.