One in seven parents ‘going without' to pay for school trips

Independent

26-06-2025

Some parents are working extra hours or selling possessions to fund school trips, a survey has found.
About one in eight (13%) parents with school-age children said they have worked overtime to meet the cost of away days or residential trips, according to public sector insurer Zurich Municipal.
Meanwhile, 9% said they have taken to selling possessions on second-hand sites such as Vinted or eBay to cover the cost.
The research also indicated that, in some cases, children's own pocket money or fundraising efforts had been used to help pay for the trip.
About one in seven (15%) parents also said they had needed to make their own sacrifices and 'go without' to be able to afford to send their child on an educational excursion.
More than a third (35%) of parents surveyed said the ongoing cost of living is their biggest challenge and nearly a quarter (24%) blamed utility bills.
The research indicated parents were paying around £30 on average for a day school trip and £412 on average for a residential trip.
Nearly two-fifths (39%) of parents said they believe school trips are a critical part of their child's education and nearly half (49%) said children learn a lot from a school trip.
Learning life skills was also seen as a valued benefit of school trips, with 61% of parents believing they help children to be adventurous and learn new skills, 59% believing they help children's independence and 57% saying they give children a confidence boost.
In general, parents who are struggling with school-related costs may benefit from seeing what support is available from the school, the local authority or the parent teacher association (PTA).
The survey also indicated that schools are conscious of the financial pressure that parents are facing.
More than a fifth (22%) of parents said their child's school had either covered the full cost of the trip, subsidised it or even taken part in fundraising activities to ensure pupils did not miss out on the opportunity to enrich their knowledge of a subject.
Jason Elsom, chief executive officer at Parentkind, a network of PTA fundraisers, said: ' School trips are an important milestone in children's lives and something that many of us look back on and reminisce about as we get older. But these trips are becoming more expensive and unfortunately many parents are struggling to afford them.
'Parent teacher associations work tirelessly all year round to raise money for their school. A new trend we've seen emerge over the last year is the number of PTAs now stepping up to cover the cost of these extracurricular activities.
' Schools struggle with budgets at the best of times and it is important we do what we can to make sure children don't lose out on school trips.'
Natalie Bate, head of education at Zurich Municipal, said: 'These trips are a key milestone in a child's education and often open children up to experiences they wouldn't necessarily have with their parent or guardian outside of school.
'School trips should conjure up happy memories, but the truth of the matter is that they're now often steeped with guilt or embarrassment as parents struggle to find the money to pay for their children to attend.'
Zurich Municipal's analysis of claims data indicates that cancellations or lost deposits are a particularly common claim that schools make on their school trip insurance policies.
The survey research was carried out by OnePoll in May, among 1,000 parents of children aged five to 16 years old across the UK.