Sir Richard Branson has lent his opinion to the raging debate over term-time holidays and the punishment that parents face if caught taking their children out of school to go on holiday without the proper leave.
The campaign, which has won support from Branson, was started by a couple who were prosecuted and ordered to pay costs of £400 for taking their children out of school to visit family in Australia. Extenuating family circumstances meant that term time was the only available time when the family could take the trip.
In the past, children have been granted up to ten days of discretionary absence for things like solo holidays with their single parent, but new rules introduced in September mean that these discretionary days may only be granted in exceptional circumstances, or parents face the risk of fines and prosecution.
These new rules have attracted opposition from hundreds of thousands of parents as well as celebrities.
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