Last year the government gave schools permissions to set their own term times for the first time ever and it was thought that this move would bring an end to the misery of more expensive holidays, and school fines. However, many schools have decided to keep to traditional terms, the holiday firms are still increasing prices for the holidays and it’s still causing problems for parents.
Many local authorities have handed out as many as 1,000 term-time fines this year, and now there is talk about increasing the fines as more of a deterrent. Right now parents are offsetting the cost of the fine against the holiday and it still works out cheaper to go away in term-time!
Holiday costs can more than double during the summer holidays and it’s easy to see why parents choose the term-time alternative, and new rules really haven’t brought down the cost of holidays this year. Many parents feel it should be up to them to be free to take their children out of school and it seems there will be no end to this debacle.
Thankfully there are alternatives, and last minute deals can be one of those. While booking school holiday breaks can be expensive, booking at the last minute can often get you a bargain and if you didn’t take a term-time break and can’t afford a summer break, then these deals are definitely the place to look for some last minute, cheap breaks.
Thankfully even with the holiday levy, British holidays are still much cheaper than paying for a foreign break, even if you have to pay a school fine on top!
By: Kath Cross
