Daily Mail

Parents stagger holidays to look after children

- Daily Mail Reporter

ALMOST three-quarters of working parents plan to take a separate summer break from their partner to juggle looking after their children over the holidays, a survey has found.

About 73 per cent of parents surveyed stagger their work leave, leaving less time for the whole family to enjoy time off together.

Meanwhile, 25 per cent of parents admitted to telling a school their child was ill or making another excuse so they could take them on holiday during term time, when cheaper deals were available.

Parents in the Midlands, London, the North East, Northern Ireland, Wales and East Anglia were most likely to have taken their children on a ‘hooky holiday’ after claiming they were ill, the research for Nationwide Savings found.

Those in Scotland and south-west England were least likely to have pretended their child was ill during term time for the sake of cheaper holidays.

There were 30 per cent of parents who said they have been on holiday without their partner in the past, with 9 per cent regularly doing so due to work pressures. More than four-fifths (81 per cent) of working parents said they find it difficult booking off the time they need for holidays.

And 61 per cent have to book holidays at least three months in advance, the survey of 2,000 parents with school-age children found.

Nationwide Savings also surveyed 2,000 working age people who do not have children. Of this group, 28 per cent felt workplace etiquette dictated that they should not book leave during school holiday periods – when colleagues with children would want time off. Andrew Baddeley-Chappell, Nationwide Building Society’s head of savings policy, said: ‘As our research shows, planning a family holiday can be a tricky process, with parents revealing not just the financial pressures but also the impact on family and working relationsh­ips.’

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