Term time holidays will be banned "Any time out of school has the potential to damage a child's education," a senior source at the Department for Education said this weekend. That is why the government will end the distinction between authorised and unauthorised absence. This is part of the government's wider commitment to bring down truancy levels in our schools. There will also be stricter penalties for parents and schools. Ministers believe that high levels of truancy are a key reason for under-attainment. They believe that children from poorer backgrounds are held back by teachers being unwilling to enforce attendance. Ministers believe that penalties imposed on parents whose children play truant need to be tougher and more vigorously enforced by the courts. Parents who take their children out of school without permission currently face fines of just £100 - much less than the saving of booking family holidays during term-time. If parents refuse to pay the fine they are frequently given conditional discharges when the case comes to court. Over the course of a year 4.5 million days of schooling are missed by children, with holidays second only to illness as a reason for absenteeism. Official figures suggest three quarters of the days lost to holidays are authorised by head teachers. Ministers are also concerned that the perception that middle-class children can miss out on school time creates a belief that truancy is accepted, while also affecting the performance of other pupils because teachers have to spend time making sure they have caught up. The tough measures on truancy are part of a wider attempt by Mr Gove to make education more academically rigorous and to tackle a culture in the educational establishment which he believes has accepted "excuses for failure." When he launched the Taylor review last year, Mr Gove made a direct connection between truancy and the riots in several of Britain's towns and cities last summer. Other measures in the shake-up will see schools with high absence rates lose points in league tables. They may also be blocked from obtaining academy status, which gives them greater freedom to run their own affairs. But one plan - to cut the benefits of parents whose children regularly play truant - had to be dropped because of concerns it could not be legally enforced. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, had raised the idea last September and said: "We need parents to have a real stake in the discipline of their children, to face real consequences if their children continually misbehave. That's why I have asked our social policy review to look into whether we should cut the benefits of those parents whose children constantly play truant. The cost of holidays has been seen as a key reason for the growing trend of parents seeking permission to take children out of school. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the ongoing economic slump has further encouraged parents to take their children on cheaper term-time holidays. Research by the travelsupermarket.com website said prices increase by up to 42 per cent for a family of four taking a two-week trip to the Algarve during the school holidays. Brian Lightman, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, which represents secondary school heads, said: "The discretionary 10 days has become a bit of a cultural expectation with parents viewing it as a right in some cases. It is not. Children only have one chance to get their education right and for schools to do their best for pupils, it is essential that children have good attendance. Parents taking children out to go on holiday just to get a good deal is disruptive and makes life very difficult for teachers. Mr Lightman said the only potential difficulty was with children with family abroad, such as the Indian subcontinent, where some head teachers allowed trips during holidays to be extended into term time. Russell Hobby, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the measure would discourage parents from trying to put pressure on heads to sanction term time holidays. "The high cost of holidays outside of term time is still an issue but ultimately a child's education is more important than a holiday," he said. The problem is families who take the holiday and don't care if is authorise or not.