Private school fees - act now for SEND!

I had heard that it was just children with an EHCP and that EHCP specifically stated the need for that particular sort of private school setting.

I’ve worked in two independent schools. They can use unqualified staff (as can academies in England) but generally don’t. The only teachers I met in either school who didn’t have QTS were being put through SCIT by the schools.

exactly this. Its a crowd pleaser, a divider, a great way to set "us" against "them" and hopefully divert attention from the far bigger issue of provision overall.

if vat relief is offered for children with sen but no ehcp the private schools will simply assist parents in claiming their child has sen. 🤷‍♀️

This is already happening. A good friend of mine worked in a prep school until last week (she is going back to the state sector in September).

In her final couple of weeks she was inundated with requests to fill in forms saying how much extra support various children needed, in the hope that they would get an EHCP. She refused to engage, on the grounds that 1) in her view the children concerned didn't need any extra support and 2) no one ever suggested they did until it was seen as a way of getting round the VAT increase.

Where did you see this @Boomer55 ?

I don’t blame parents who went private because they could, or just about could, because the state system locally didn’t meet their child’s needs.

the worst kind of SEN parent imo are those who send their other children to expensive independent schools and know full well they would have done the same for their other child, but being articulate have secured an EHCP and get their child’s specialist education funded eg at one of the independent special schools where it’s about 50/50 LEA funded and parents paying privately, then on top an expensive taxi when they probably could do drop off themselves because they don’t work.

those families I think should be ashamed and I know a few around here.

Yes, it will raise around 7p per child.

I do need gluesticks in my classroom but they're about a quid

This is silly. It's classic divide and rule. Get everyone squabbling about something that sounds good but won't fix anything while not dealing with the actual issues.

I think parents will need to brace themselves for this not happening. I haven’t seen anything to indicate to me that Labour will be able to afford significant changes to the SEN system - or anything else really.

Social care is the primary factor leading to council bankruptcy (see the Panorama doc), and in response to the Angela Rayner has said all they can do is give councils a heads up about how much money they’ll be getting further in advance, but not increase it. Many services have been cut because SEN or social care expenditure has risen so dramatically (in conjunction with one or two lesser issues).

The Guardian article shows how steeply the demand is rising and with this in mind the best they can do is tread water.

I massively oppose VAT for SEN children for this reason - we really need any parents who can or will fund their kids education to keep doing it, and not overburden them into going back to the state sector.

We all want a perfect world but sadly work with the one we have.

(which technically should really have been being paid all along)

No it shouldn't.

Under EU law, education is exempt. Not just zero-rated, exempt. There is no way that anyone should have be paying VAT on exempt items.

But now, since Brexit, a government can change our sales tax; and the country has just voted in a government who has made ending sales tax harmonisation with EU a flagship policy.

I agree with many previous posters - apply for an EHCP do demonstrate that your DC's placement should fall within the rules for pupils with them. Perhaps even lobbying for provision for all DC who were in independent schools at the introduction of the tax to be eligible for refund if their DC gets an EHCP during that stage of education.

And lobby hard for better support for SEND (including the mild/moderate SpLDs that seem to attract sod all support as they're essentially unfunded, but which can have a major impact on affected children)

@User6874356 but in this case the very thing that the original poster is advocating- trying to needle their MP about SEN provision- presumably in the hope that the policy will be derailed or watered down- will directly affect the other kids because there’ll be less money available to spend on teachers in the state sector if the policy can’t be enacted. So on this one issue I don’t think you can be in favour of all children, no. You’re in favour of only those who are privileged enough to buy themselves out of difficulty, leaving those who can’t afford this to suffer it with no real option.

@LoveSandbanks have you factored tribunal waiting times into that? That's what's actually causing most of the delay. The LA's clock stops on the 20 weeks every time you appeal.

I'd rather see the state support improve for all children with SEN.

^^ ‘if I can’t have it why should yours’

The whole basis of this debate

Dont be daft

That's really increasingly untrue. I've been in the private sector now for over 20 years and a vanishingly small % of my colleagues are not QTS and any that aren't are v young and working toward it.

I support all children receiving support - not just those in a private school. Children in state schools need the funding as many are receiving zero support

I thought Labour said they wouldn’t implement VAT in the cases of children with SEN? I think they’re aware they can’t increase SEN funding so have made an exemption if anything to lower pressure on the system. At the bottom of the article is the Labour position

https://amp.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/jun/13/record-number-of-pupils-have-special-needs-support-plan-in-englandand

This can’t possibly be true! Do you have figures?

I have emailed local councillors, MPs and the useless local education department tirelessly trying to bump SEN provision up the agenda, both before and after deciding to extract my child to private school to protect their mental health. People are perfectly capable of thinking beyond just their child you know.

This.

Supporting some children doesn’t mean you don’t support all. It’s a particular issue which affects some people- supporting it doesn’t mean you don’t support other complementary issues

hope that helps

Apparantly, the VAT fees won’t come into being for about 4 years, so many children won’t be affected.

@Longhotsummers LAs also spend a lot of time and money fighting parents in court to deny EHCPs and persecuting them for not being able to get their kids suffering EBSA to school - many of whom are ASD and have unmet needs contributing to the EBSA and are unsupported by CAMHS. No government is brave enough to face this vast interconnected issue and talk ab out how they'll fix that. Much easier to do this as a crowd pleaser even though it will be ineffective at achiveing anything positive.

Sounds like you are only supportive of children in private schools receiving the appropriate support - what about all children receiving support