Parents may be subject to £60 penalty notices and contracts pledging to resolve their child’s attendance, and repeated offenders face prosecution and even jail.
Liverpool council is among local authorities working with city travel operators.
They offer discounts of up to 10% by for families taking vacations in school holidays.
But last night Ian Andain, chairman of Liverpool Schools Forum and headteacher at Broadgreen International School, said if parents were hell-bent on taking their children out of school there was nothing they could do.
“We do constantly talk to parents about the importance of taking holidays at the right time and the cost to their children’s education.
“But with the credit crunch it is inevitable parents will want to take advantage of the cheap packages. And across our schools you will find increasing evidence of this being the case.”
Schools Minister Vernon Coaker said: “Headteachers are now clamping down on term-time holidays and recording them as unauthorised absence if permission wasn’t granted.
“This explains much of the increase in unauthorised absence being recorded.”
