Cardiff Council to consider shorter summer holidays

Cardiff Council is set to consider cutting summer holidays from six weeks to five.

The councillors have voted to carry out a ‘detailed’ study on reducing the school summer holidays to five weeks in order to place the sixth week to another time in the school year.

The council’s children and young people scrutiny committee will now look into possible dates and consider the wider implications of the move.

The proposal was put forward by Ed Bridges, Gabalfa Liberal Democrat councillor, and highlighted: “Currently families taking holidays during school term time can do so more cheaply than during allocated school holiday times.
From my own experience the cost of going away for a week during October half term is basically double what you would spend on the same holiday in May during the school term time.

"Families are often having to make a very difficult decision of whether they go on holiday during school term time and pull their children out of school, or in some cases not go on holiday at all if finances don't allow it."

A spokesman for the Welsh government commented: “We are pleased to see that they have successfully worked together to ensure harmonisation of term dates across geographical areas for 2017-18".

"Schools have a discretionary power to authorise up to 10 days' absence during a school year for family holidays during term time.”