Son wants to visit dad after 5 years..

clairec79

I think you can legitamately tell him that you can not afford to pay for him to go but are happy for him to visit his dad aside from that, aslong as it is not in school time

sueeve

I think he would have a problem getting permission to go during term time; it would most likely be recorded as unauthorisd absence (truancy), and in a bad scenario that would go down in records passed on to colleges etc. Schools vary in interpretation, but are unlikely to be understanding during GCSE and A level years. So you would be looking at travel at expensive times. But directly after his last GCSE might make sense, although again a few schools have programmes of work, even prep for A levels, although most schools refer to see the back of year 11. So discussion with school would be very important, with written enquiry to get a considered response from the right person.
When timing is clear cost implication migt be more certain