Essex County Council is considering moving the school holiday back by one week so parents in Essex can look for cheaper holiday deals. Councillor Sam Journet said the council is looking at taking the school holiday time out of sync with the current educational system.
Journet said the plan would let parents take children on holiday outside the standard holiday schedule, with reduced prices for families across Essex. He added that the earliest the change could begin is 2028/29 because term dates are fixed for the next two school years.
Sam Journet and Essex
The proposal would affect the dates set by Essex County Council for community and voluntary controlled schools in Essex. Term dates for foundation, voluntary-aided schools and academies may be different, so the change would not apply in the same way across every school type.
Journet made the comments after a question from Councillor Keiron McGill, who represents Caney Island East. McGill described the current price increases as grotesque, reflecting the pressure many parents face when holiday prices rise during the school break.
Keiron McGill and fines
The council’s pitch for lower holiday prices sits alongside current absence rules that can carry a family cost. Under those rules, each parent can be fined £160 per child, while a £80 penalty applies per child if paid within 21 days and rises to £160 if unpaid after 28 days.
That means two parents taking two children out of school for a holiday could face a family fine of £640. More than 459,000 fines were issued for unauthorised term-time holidays in the 2024/25 academic year, and Essex County Council issued 11,518 fines or penalty notices for unauthorised school absences that year, down from 13,266 in 2023/24.
Essex County Council timing
Journet said the administration is trying to get better prices for residents of Canvey Island and Castle Point during the six weeks period. For parents weighing whether a cheaper holiday is worth the risk, the calculation now runs both ways: any price saving would have to be large enough to outweigh the penalty exposure if a trip falls inside term time.
