Families could save £1,000s on summer holidays under PM’s plans to stop travel firms hiking up costs

FAMILIES could save hundreds of pounds on holidays as the government raises concerns about the cost of summer getaways.

Travel firms who ramp up prices in school beaks could have to bring down prices as Ministers say the issue faces a probe.

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Cabinet Minister says school holiday pricing needs “further consideration”[/caption]

The warning shot came from Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson who wants to reduce persistent absences from schools.

Some parents take their school-age children out of the classroom to help bring down costs for households on flights and accommodation.

The Cabinet Minister was pressed on the issue today and asked whether the government was planning to review the matter.

The issue of hiking prices came up in light of ticket companies increasing prices due to demand as they sold Oasis tickets over the weekend.

She was asked on the BBC Today programme whether she wanted “to act on travel companies and airlines in the same way you seem to be prepared to do on ticket touts and ticket websites”.

Ms Phillipson said that it was “an area that requires further consideration”.

But she insisted that this wasn’t the single biggest reason why children miss school.

It came as she said there will be a new report card system to provide parents with “more information” than one-word Ofsted judgments.

She said single headline grades such as “outstanding” will be scrapped with immediate effect.

She told Sky News: “We’re going to move towards a better system that better captures a school’s strengths, but also areas for improvement, in the form of a report card that will commence next September.”

“But at the start of this academic year we are today making that change because I believe that parents need more information about what goes on within our schools.”