Parents to take legal action against term-time holiday ban

A group of parents are planning to take legal action against the ban on term-time holidays and have already won the support of 200,000 other parents.

The campaign group ‘Parents want a say’, which was officially launched at the weekend, is seeking a judicial review of the rules, claiming they are a breach of the human right to family life.

Last September the Education Secretary Michael Gove put a stop to a policy which allowed schools to grant up to 10 days holiday a year to families in "special circumstances." Head teachers are now only allowed to give permission in "exceptional circumstances."

Under the new rules, parents can be fined or even put into prison if they take their children away during term time.

The new campaign group is run by Karen Wilkinson, a mother of three from Bath in Somerset.

Its website argues that last year’s changes are unfairly criminalising hardworking families for wanting to enjoy affordable holidays together.

"The cost of a family holiday during the school holidays is an expense many working families simply can’t afford," it says.

"Furthermore, it is not simply a matter of cost for many families; most businesses can’t allow large numbers of their staff to take leave at the same time either.

"Those hardest hit by this short sighted policy include the country’s highly valued public sector workers. Military families are restricted on when they take holidays due to work, training and overseas deployment, as are many NHS doctors and nurses for similar reasons.

"Those caring for our country’s elderly, operating national transport systems and our police force will also suffer under this policy, unable to enjoy family holiday’s when work schedules allow them to without facing fines for doing so.

"Government inference without due consideration to the families it will effect is unacceptable. The responsibility of making decisions about our children should be put back in the hands of the parent. All children who have a good attendance record should be allowed to enjoy and benefit from experiencing time abroad with their parents on an annual holiday of up to 10 day per year."

The parents have already won the support of 200,000 others who have signed a petition, along with John Hemming, the liberal Democrat MP who successfully campaigned to open up family courts.