Can you blame parents taking their children out of school early given the exorbitant hike in travel prices during the holidays? - Andrew Vine

Those parents will pay the fines for their children’s unauthorised absence, get a mild telling-off from the school and then the whole cycle will be repeated either at the autumn half-term or next year’s Easter holiday.

Despite the fines, next summer will see even more gaps in my friend’s class, because term-time absences have been steadily increasing over the past few years. Talk to any teacher, and they will tell you the same thing.

And though it is undoubtedly wrong to take children out of school without good reason, who can really blame parents for pinching a few days at the end of term?

It is either that or being unable to afford a holiday, given the exorbitant hike in prices travel companies impose on their customers whenever the school holidays come around.

For poorer families especially, obeying the rules and keeping children in school until they break up puts getting away beyond them. It works out cheaper to pay the fines than the inflated prices that kick in from the second half of July.

That harsh economic reality – and the effect it is having in schools – was clear from last week’s figures on pupil absences, which revealed Bradford has issued more fines than anywhere else in the country.

In the last academic year, the city issued 12,364 fines, overwhelmingly for children taken on holiday. Over a three-year period, the penalties it has imposed on parents add up to £914,000.

Bradford has seen a 269 per cent increase in absences since 2021, double the national average.

This does not mean parents in Bradford have a cavalier attitude to their children’s education.

Instead, it is an indicator of how many in the city are under financial pressure and see taking their sons and daughters out of school as the only way of giving them the holiday they deserve and need.

Fines for unauthorised absences are currently £60, doubling to £120 if not paid within three weeks. Next month they rise for the first time since 2012, to £80 or £160 if not paid promptly.

Increasing the fines won’t make much difference, because paying them is still going to work out cheaper than the jump in holiday prices in the peak summer weeks.

Some neighbours of mine reluctantly took their son and daughter out of school two days early to head off for a week in Spain, because if they’d waited until term finished, the cost of their package would have shot up by £1,500.

That was simply unaffordable. These are anything but irresponsible parents and felt guilty about their children missing school, but they all needed a break away and this was the only way of managing it.

Skipping classes to go on holiday undoubtedly sets children back, and puts yet more pressure on teachers who will always do their utmost to help them catch up.

But my friend with absences in her classroom, while disapproving of children missing out on school days, can’t find it in herself to think too harshly of parents who make that choice.

She knows how hard it is for them to juggle household budgets in order to give their children a sense of normality, including having a holiday, and not let it become apparent to them that the family finances are precarious, which can cause anxiety.

If the rising trend of a week or longer away taking priority over classes is to be addressed, fines are not the answer.

There needs to be a long and hard look taken at what travel companies are charging, in particular whether they are price-gouging when schools break up.

I don’t know any parent with children of school age who doesn’t roll their eyes at the cost of booking a holiday, or is not annoyed at seeing the price of an identical break drop by as much as a third when the autumn term starts in September.

Over the past couple of years, both Parliament’s Business and Trade Select Committee and the Competition and Markets Authority have conducted inquiries into pricing in sectors including supermarkets, fuel and car insurance, prompted by concerns about overcharging.

It is high time the travel industry faced a similar probe.

For the sake of customers and for children’s education.