UK-France school trip risks being canceled as Brexit checks arrive

Post-Brexit plans to reduce catering for French children on school trips to the UK are at risk of being canceled due to new entry requirements introduced by the UK, the travel industry has warned.

New rules for school trips to France were introduced in December 2023 following a summit between French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which resulted in an agreement to tackle the sharp decline in visits due to Brexit.

The changes will allow French children to travel to the UK without a visa using their national ID and non-EU classmates. This was aimed at cutting costs for schools, which complained that obtaining visas and passports for short trips to the UK had become a bureaucratic nightmare.

However, this system is now at risk due to the UK's new Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) scheme, which comes into effect from 2 April 2025. This policy requires all EU visitors to register before traveling to the UK, which makes children unsuitable for planning school trips to France as they have passports.

The EU plans to introduce a similar scheme, the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), for British travelers entering Europe from mid-2025.

Valrie Boned, president of Les Entreprises du Voyage, the main trade body for French tour operators, wrote to British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on October 8 asking whether she would maintain the program for French school groups.

The group said it had not received a response from the Home Office by the end of last week, adding that it was urgently seeking clarity as it currently has travel booked for spring 2025.

The sooner we sort out the situation, the less likely there will be an impact on the number of school trips in 2025, Boned wrote in a letter seen by the Financial Times.

Home Office officials said the impact of the ETA policy on French school travel rules was being reviewed but did not provide further details.

French government officials said they had raised concerns in London about how the ETA program would affect school trip schemes, which have been a major step forward in strengthening UK-France relations.

They added that they were in close contact with their British counterparts to maintain full operations.

The threat to the plan comes as Britain and the EU struggle to reset relations following Labor's election victory in July. But the two sides are already at odds over a proposed youth mobility plan that would make it easier for young people to live and work abroad.

Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly ruled out such plans despite pressure to negotiate from pro-EU groups within the Labor Party, but some ministers believe a negotiated landing zone could become visible next year.

Ministers from the previous Conservative government hinted that the French school trip scheme could be expanded to other EU member states if it was successful.

Data from Les Entreprises du Voyage showed that the introduction of the group travel scheme led to a 30% increase in school trips to the UK, which was still 60% below 2019 levels when the scheme was introduced in December.

Edward Hisbergues, director of leading school trip tour company PG Trips, said an agreement to preserve the scheme was essential to prevent school trips to the UK being disrupted again.

A survey of more than 300 French teachers by PG Trips found that more than three quarters of teachers said scrapping the new system would make them less likely to take their groups to the UK.

Isabelle Regiani, middle school teacher, said: “Colleagues in northern France who used to cross the Channel for a day with their students will no longer do so. Rgis Suhner/FT

Isabelle Regiani, a teacher at Jean Jaurs secondary school in Sarreguemines, said it was ridiculous to require a group of supervised 15-year-olds to undergo an ETA process for a short trip to the UK.

Colleagues in northern France who used to cross the Channel for a day with their students no longer want to do it because of the sheer volume of paperwork. We sincerely hope the UK government will review the situation, she added.

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