Charities will be free to organise challenge events during school holiday periods as a result of a revision to the codes of practice on outdoor challenge events fundraising.

School holidays have been removed from the definition of “peak holiday times” in the Institute of Fundraising’s Outdoor UK Challenge Events Code of Fundraising. The code now recommends that charities “ought” to avoid organising challenge events during the peak holiday season, which is defined as bank holidays and over the summer solstice.

The removal of school holidays is in response to the fact that different regions hold school holidays over different periods. It will apply to all outdoor events, ranging from running to sky diving and the Three Peaks Challenge.

The amendment comes nearly four months after a revised Code was released, following a three-month consultation, late in March this year which aimed to ensure fundraising events did not cause any harm to the natural environment in which they were held.

A spokeswoman for the Institute said that the issue around school holidays has only recently come to light. “It’s part of the process that all codes go through in terms of constant revision,” she said.