NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Family bookings impacted by term fines and Brexit


Ben Ireland ben.ireland@travelweekly.co.uk


Almost a third of agents say term- time holiday fines are impacting sales of family holidays.


Nearly 60% cited rising prices,


31% said term-time fines and half reported Brexit as having an effect on family holiday sales in January. The findings come from a


poll of 337 agents carried out exclusively for Travel Weekly by supplier marketing organisation Tipto and follow official data from analyst GfK showing that family


bookings for summer 2019 were outperforming the wider market (Travel Weekly, January 31). School absence figures for


England will be released in March, but the latest data, for spring 2018, shows 8.6% were unauthorised family holidays and 1.6% were agreed holidays. In Northern Ireland, one in 10 primary school absences in 2017-18 were for unauthorised term-time holidays. Parents should get permission


from headteachers to take their child out of school for a holiday in “exceptional circumstances”. Fines of £60 per child can be


issued for unauthorised absences, rising to £120 if not paid in 21 days. Last month, Lancashire County Council denied media reports claiming it planned to raise fines to £1,000 per parent per child. Despite the Tipto findings, some


parents are still willing to risk fines due to differences in prices. Paul Waters, director at Premier


Travel, said families still wanted to travel in the holidays for most of their trip but some were willing to


include one or two school days. A Kayak poll in January suggested


41% of parents were happy to take children out of school due to “skyrocketing” prices. It found 69% of those who had done so had told the school and were not fined. More positively, Hays Travel said


some schools had changed holiday dates, enabling customers to travel out of mainstream school holidays


without incurring fines. › Special Report, page 10


5 STORIES HOT


5 CMA urges firms to check small print


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is urging travel firms to check their terms and conditions ahead of a consumer campaign in the spring, but vows it is not trying to encourage complaints.


The ‘Small Print, Big Difference’ campaign will highlight the need for terms and conditions to be “clear and fair”. The CMA wants the sector to help shape the campaign


and is meeting Abta and Aito after research in 2016 suggested almost nine out of 10 business owners were not familiar with the law. However, a CMA spokeswoman


insisted: “Stimulating complaints is not the aim of this campaign.” She told Travel Weekly: “The


CMA wants holiday companies to understand the law and increase the number of businesses checking their terms. The purpose is to help companies prevent disputes.” The CMA notes consumers “may


feel they have little choice but to sign up to terms and conditions”.


6 travelweekly.co.uk 7 February 2019


“We don’t want to make consumers aware until we’ve talked to the trade”


However, “terms considered legally ‘unfair’ are not binding” and “a company using them could be vulnerable to legal action”. Research in 2016 suggested


more than 85% of business owners “aren’t familiar with the Consumer Rights Act 2015”. The CMA said: “Our upcoming


campaign communicates clearly why it’s important to check terms are fair and up to date. The CMA is talking to industry partners to help spread this message.” The campaign launch date


has yet to be decided. The spokeswoman said: “We don’t want to make consumers aware until we’ve engaged with the trade.” She added: “This is not for


lawyers, it’s for business owners and managers. If you can’t understand your terms and conditions, your


customers aren’t likely to.” › Details at gov.uk/fairterms


FAMILY HOLIDAYS


SPECIAL ISSUE


PICTURE: SHUTTERSTOCK


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