DARLINGTON families are being offered cut-price holidays out of term time in an effort to solve the town's truancy troubles.

Families with school children will receive a ten per cent discount when booking with Hays Travel - if the break is during school holidays.

Darlington was this week named the worst area in the North-East for school attendance.

This year, 2.11 per cent of pupils' sessions were missed due to "unauthorised absence". The North-East average was 1.31 per cent - the national average was 1.61 per cent.

However, Darlington was the only area where truancy fell.

Nationally, the Government estimated 5.4 million school days were lost due to holidays in the autumn 2006 and spring 2007 terms.

They also estimate one in ten days lost are through holidays.

On Monday, Kevin Brennan, the children's minister, warned: "Local authorities should not tolerate instances where parents wilfully take their child out of school without authorisation."

The discount in Darlington begins on Monday.

School staff must complete a form confirming the child is a pupil, and the form should be taken to Hays Travel's Cockerton branch.

Pupils will receive explanatory leaflets at school. The first family to book a holiday using it will win a family ticket for Flamingo Land, for use during weekends or a school holiday.

Hays Travel, which runs the scheme in other areas, approached Darlington Borough Council with the plan and it will not cost the council anything.

Chris McEwan, the council's cabinet member for children's services, said he would continue to tackle the town's truancy problem.

"We are constantly working with our partners to look at ways to improve school attendances throughout the borough," he said. "Children being taken out of lessons during term times can be both frustrating for schools and damaging to a pupil's academic progress.

"Children who stay in school will get better results than those who don't. This new scheme is an innovative way of tackling the issue."