School Attendance Fines vs. Family Wellbeing: The Debate Over Term-Time Holidays

Taking family holidays during the school term? Signatories argue that "predatory pricing" by holiday companies makes travel during official school breaks unaffordable, forcing parents to risk fines. While attendance is crucial for attainment—missing 10 days can halve a student's chance of grade success—critics argue fines are ineffective against persistent absenteeism and unfairly penalize responsible families. The discussion explores the unique needs of SEND families, who often require quieter, off-peak holidays for wellbeing, and considers solutions like flexible term dates and regulating inflated travel costs.

Key Takeaways

• Market forces cause holiday prices to "jump hugely" during school breaks, sometimes increasing costs by thousands of pounds for the same trip. This exploitation makes family holidays unaffordable for many working families.
• Evidence shows a strong link between consistent attendance and academic attainment; for Key Stage 4 pupils, missing just 10 days of school can reduce the chance of achieving a grade 5 in English or Maths by 50%.
• The current system of issuing penalty notices for unauthorized term-time absences is often criticized as being "simultaneously too harsh and too soft," failing to tackle severe absenteeism while damaging relationships between schools and otherwise law-abiding parents.
• Families with children who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) often require off-peak travel because crowded peak periods can be overwhelming and disruptive to their child's wellbeing.
• Possible solutions raised include empowering academies and local authority schools to alter term dates to create accessible off-peak weeks, or working with the travel industry to introduce a "family-friendly charter mark" to even out pricing.

Discussion:  What non-punitive measures—such as structural changes to the school calendar (like a five-term year) or greater market intervention on travel prices—offer the most realistic path to ensuring both family wellbeing and consistent education for all children?

Source:  Holidays During School Term Time
Volume 774: debated on Monday 27 October 2025

Transcript

Amy: 0:03

Hello and welcome again to the Bench Report, where we discuss recent debates and briefings from the benches of the UK Parliament. A new topic every episode. You're listening to Amy and Ivan.

Ivan: 0:14

Today we're looking at a topic that, well, it clearly struck a chord. EPetition 700047, pushing Parliament to consider the issue of fixed penalty notices for parents taking children out of school during term time.

Amy: 0:27

It really boils down to this core tension, doesn't it? The absolute need families feel for quality time, maybe an affordable holiday, versus the um the hard statistics on school attendance and academic achievement.

Ivan: 0:40

A real clash. And nearly 200,000 petitioners made sure it got debated.

Amy: 0:44

And a huge part of that frustration voiced very clearly in the debate is the cost, the sheer economics of school holidays. MPs brought up some, frankly, uh eye-watering examples of price hikes.

Ivan: 0:55

And that Center Parks example was mentioned quite a bit.

Amy: 0:57

Yes. The so-called holiday tax. A short break costing, what was it, 750 pounds more during half-term compared to the week just before? It feels predatory to many families.

Ivan: 1:06

And when the fine for taking your child out might actually be less than that price hike.

Amy: 1:10

You can see the dilemma. Parents argued quite passionately that termtime trips aren't just about saving money. They talked about essential decompression time, unique educational experiences, seeing other cultures firsthand, for instance.

Ivan: 1:24

And for some families, like those in seasonal work, farming, perhaps, off-peak is sometimes the only time they can get away together.

Amy: 1:31

There was also a really powerful point made about families with children who have special educational needs and disabilities, send families.

Ivan: 1:39

Yes. For them it was framed not as a luxury, but often as a quote, well-being requirement. The idea of navigating busy, noisy airports or resorts during peak season is just, well, unmanageable for many children with neurodivergent needs.

Amy: 1:54

That's a compelling argument about necessity. But then you have the Department for Education presenting the other side, the uh the data linking attendance directly to results.

Ivan: 2:04

It's quite stark, actually. The official figures show that missing just ten school days in a year, that's only two weeks, cuts a key stage two pupil's chance of reaching the expected standard by about 25%.

Amy: 2:14

A quarter, just for two weeks.

Ivan: 2:16

And it gets more critical later on. Missing those same ten days in year 11, GCSE year, has the likelihood of getting a grade five or above in English or maths. Yeah. Education really relies on that consistent presence.

Amy: 2:29

Haves it. That's huge. And the most striking statistic I saw mentioned was the cumulative effect.

Ivan: 2:35

Oh, the estimate over a child's whole school career.

Amy: 2:38

Exactly. A child taking a two-week term time holiday each year on top of average sickness absence could miss the equivalent of a full year of schooling by the end of year eleven.

Ivan: 2:47

A full year. It puts the individual absences into a much sharper perspective, doesn't it?

Amy: 2:52

It really does. So you have this intense pressure money family time versus grades. And the main tool we currently use is the fine. But the numbers suggest it's not really working as intended.

Ivan: 3:01

Well, the number of penalty notices going up. 487,300 in the 2023-24 academic year, which is a 22% increase.

Amy: 3:10

But the feeling expressed in Parliament was that these fines are sort of um simultaneously too harsh and too soft. They damage the relationship between schools and parents.

Ivan: 3:19

Without actually tackling the root causes or significantly boosting attendance overall. Often, as we said, the fine is just absorbed as part of the holiday cost.

Amy: 3:29

So if fines aren't the answer, what alternatives were discussed?

Ivan: 3:33

Broadly, three main avenues emerged from the debate. First, looking at the market itself.

Amy: 3:38

Trying to tackle the pricing issue head on.

Ivan: 3:40

Sort of. Maybe introducing something like a family-friendly charter mark to encourage, or perhaps pressure holiday companies into fairer, more consistent pricing across the year.

Amy: 3:51

Interesting. What was the second area?

Ivan: 3:53

Structural changes to the school year itself. Ideas like moving towards a five-term year, which naturally creates more shorter breaks, spreading out the demand.

Amy: 4:02

Or giving individual schools more power.

Ivan: 4:04

Exactly. Especially academies, perhaps giving head teachers the flexibility to shift occasional weeks, maybe inset days bunched together, strategically moving them outside the absolute peak holiday times to help families avoid the worst price hikes.

Amy: 4:17

That feels quite proactive trying to design the problem away. And the third approach.

Ivan: 4:21

Shifting from punishment to support, moving towards a support first model. Instead of automatically issuing a fine for absence, focus on understanding why a child is missing school.

Amy: 4:32

So looking at underlying issues.

Ivan: 4:34

Precisely. Things like anxiety, family circumstances, poverty, housing issues, using pilot schemes, like the ETO program mentioned, to provide tailored help for vulnerable families rather than just issuing a penalty.

Amy: 4:47

It brings us back to that core tension. When you look at those massive price differences, that 750-pound gap for essentially the same product just weeks apart, it does make you wonder if the travel industry wasn't able to, or wasn't allowed to exploit the school calendar quite so much, would this whole debate about fines even be happening on the same scale? As always, find us on social media at bench report UK. Get in touch with any topic important to you. Remember, politics is everyone's business. Take care.