If VAT is added on Private School Fees, then it will be added onto University fees as well

Universities don't have charitable status.

Even a quick google shows that this is not correct. They do. From the University of Birmingham :
“Almost all British universities have charitable status because their primary purposes of advancing education and research are deemed to deliver a public benefit.”

Your worry shouldn’t be about whether they add VAT to university fees (they won’t), your worry should be that universities are chronically underfunded and they’re going to have to find the money from somewhere. Most likely by increasing the fee cap.

@decionsdecisions62 yes they do, have a tiny Google it will take seconds

No I think they are adding it anyway

Universities don't have charitable status. Neither should they and neither should bloody Eton and Marlborough!

No
Private schools will not lose their charitable status under a Labour government.

Whatever you think about universities being non essential, most people and also the government would disagree, hence why there is a tax payer loan. It would be pointless to add VAT is that just ended up being paid by the tax payer anyway. Private schools are not considered essential by most people and people do not receive tax payer funded loan to go to one.

Again trying to be astonished by the level of ignorance and prejudice on this subject, but I'm so tired of it

Not all charities are about people donating money for ill cats or homeless people, MOSTLY they are businesses providing a service without making money for shareholders, and ploughing any excess back into the service they provide. We live in a capitalist society, where innovation is (usually) applauded.

SO why shouldn't a business open up and charge to provide educational services on a not-for-profit basis? Fine, apparently, if it's a dance school, martial arts school, swim club or similar (which actually are usually profit making businesses) but dare to establish an institution that provides an EDUCATION that is not the bog standard one provided by the state, which is only affordable to people with loads of money because....well if I can't afford it then no one else should be able to either?????? Oh no I'm not envious, I just don't believe in it. Because...I dunno it feels wrong!?

OMG FFS and so on I give up

Universities are charitable status institutions, they are not essential, they are the same but people can't even be bothered to do a tiny bit of research about that before they go spouting on about charitable status of private schools

VAT on private schools is shooting ourselves (the majority with kids in state) in the foot and it won't even punish the people you think it will

Level 7 is not an undergraduate degree. The people doing it will have already achieved a degree from a university. A degree apprenticeship is level 6 and requires a university.

The student loan thing is funny in that when its written off the tax payer picks up the bill. So if the loan included vat, the tax payer of the future would pay off the vat. Like current us borrowing from future us.

@Lindaofoxford @SmashedPrawnsInAMilkyBasket

A tiny bit of googling will tell you that almost all universities have charitable status

For all it matters at this point, uni fees could be 9k or 50k. VAT or no VAT. The loan covers it and it is only paid back as a % of income until it’s written off after a few years. I couldn’t get wound up about it, let alone use it as an argument for private schools.

What’s the percentage split on public v private?

I hadn’t given any thought to what is what

Those Labour bastards are going to make organisations BAT exempt? The evil fuckers!
Where the hell is the Daily Mail when you need it?

I hope not it would be incredibly stupid

Even more so than the current gimmick for non university

Charities have to be registered and charge VAT on "Business activity" so many charities will have the shops registered for VAT under a separate trading entity or will be partially registered for VAT . I assume they will just change the definition of "business activities" so that it catches private education.

All Charities (unless partially registered) have to pay VAT on their inputs (if vatable) and they can't reclaim the VAT.

Geeky government types love drafting tax rules - I'm not aware of any plan to include public universities within the remit though private universities might be caught.

This question has been raised before and, yes, it does concern me.

Just to clear up the facts first, which so many people with such strong views seem to be unaware of. As things currently stand, only around half of private schools have charitable status. Even those that don’t have charitable status do not have to charge VAT on fees because of an exemption under the VAT legislation.

The Labour Party have said that they are no longer planning to strip schools of charitable status. What they are planning to do is to change the VAT legislation.

For the sake of clarity, this is from the government website.

“If school, higher or further education is being provided for a charge (see paragraph 3.1), the VAT consequences are for an eligible body (see section 4):

• the education provided is exempt
• any ‘closely-related’ goods or services provided are exempt”

“With effect from 1 August 2019, an eligible body is:

• a school, sixth form college, tertiary college or further education college or other centrally funded further education institution (defined as such under the Education Acts)
• a centrally funded higher education institution in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (defined as such under the Education Acts)
• the governing body of one of these institutions:
• a local authority
• a government department or executive agency
• a non-profit making body that carries out duties of an essentially public nature similar to those carried out by a LA or government department
• health authority
• a non-profit making organisation that meets certain conditions
• a commercial provider of tuition in EFL, in which case special rules will apply (see section 9)
• a university
• a higher education provider registered in the approved (fee cap) category of the register maintained by the Office for Students from the date of inclusion in the register”

The VAT exemption for fee paying schools is under the same part of the rules as universities are.

In theory, they might be able to change the legislation to try to ensure that only schools are covered. In reality, trying to change legislation without having unintended consequences can prove challenging.

The Labour Party’s two main policies of raising tax are taxing private schools and non doms. There is no way that even the most optimistic person can think that these changes alone will raise enough to cover any meaningful increase in spending in other areas. The money needs to come somewhere.

Where is the money for all this spending coming from? My concern is that once they tweak the VAT legislation, they’ll look at other tweaks. University fees, care homes, private nurseries, healthcare etc. - all of these are things which many of the population cannot afford and, therefore, could be seen as “luxuries”.

Would the Labour Party admit to looking at any of these things before an election? No, of course they won’t, because it would lose them votes.

I dont think that the Labour Government if elected would do this.

I do think it sets in motion the idea that education is a vatable thing and there is a chance that the next government would look to extend the principle.

I emailed my local Labour MP to ask about VAT on school fees - I got a quick response to say I need to wait to see what's in the manifesto. So no point in speculating til it comes out.

Yes, given the utter state this country is in, from the CoL crisis and crumbling infrastructure to the recruitment / retention crises in vital public services and the complete erosion of any trust in authority, a discussion on a fictional policy of the opposition is certain what's needed.

He’s not a first class honours student. However, he has been able to demonstrate he is a first class honours employee.

That's a really great statement!