To ask if anyone is clued up on the challenge this week to VAT on school fees?

I'm holding out for Phillipson to be sacked.

I have no skin in the game here, other than to think it was a ridiculous policy.

But anyone who thinks this is a done deal is being naive.

The legal challenges are real, and the government can’t bring about a policy until the legal challenges have been resolved.

It’s November already, we have Christmas in the mix, so we’re talking about six weeks for 5 challenges to be fought and won. It’s just not going to happen.

So while it might happen that the policy does come into force at some point. It absolutely isn’t going to be on the 1st of January.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98d3xr0290o.amp

Article for those who haven’t seen it. Last time the ISC took legal action against the Charities Commission, it won. But more pertinently, the case dragged on for years.

@twistyizzy if they drop it I'll send you big thanks. Idk how it will go but I'd love it to go.

He was the one whose advice Labour previously accepted about VAT being against HR Act

So if the Government have already admitted that they are discriminating against children with SEND to make their tax policy work, looks like a slam dunk?!

“In an impact assessment released on Wednesday, the government confirmed that only those children with a local authority EHCP, with a private school named on it, will be exempt from the VAT policy.
It added that "carving all children with Send out of this policy would carry a significant cost, and therefore undermine the government’s ability to improve education for the 94% of school children in the UK that attend state schools".

From the BBC. The Government have already admitted there is no proportionality.

I think given the number of legal challenges it’s pretty much a given that this policy isn’t going to be implemented on the 1st of January.

Only if they lose ...

Lord Pannick leading the challenge as well, pretty heavy hitter.

Thank you, must have missed that. So, just to be clear …not in favour?

My prejudices are just common or garden really, PS and grammar perform better because the children are there to learn and there are less behavioural issues pulling down everyone. I believe parents who sacrifice to pay for a PS are more likely to be pro education than those that don’t and this influences their children. I base this on my own non PS education , everyone I grew up with who went to the same comprehensive and that of my early DCs non PS and their current PS. I’m a terrible person I admit it, you’ve got me. I will watch ‘I, Daniel Blake’ 6 times to atone for my atrocious crimes.

The ISC are now mounting a legal challenge. That's 4 x legal challenges Labour have to pay to fight.

On previous page but here we go...

"I wholeheartedly sympathise. They are totally hitting the wrong people. The state system fails your DC and most parents with DC in that situation will move heaven and earth to try to get something workable for them. Then you are hit again with this while Eton et al are laughing their way to the bank. It’s awful."

Now what about your prejudices against non PS children? That's far more interesting.

I’m really not trying to do anything other than establish your view on the education tax policy to be honest.

Well, since you don't know me, my posts and I are the same thing aren't they. You are just trying to circumvent ad hominem.

You still think it is okay to assume that the children of lower than average intelligence parents are likely to be thick and disruptive. Can't see anything wrong with writing that? There are many, many parents in state schools who value education and their children do brilliantly. There are others with DC in private schools who don't give a f**k, with not very bright and disruptive children there. There will also be a decent proportion of children in private schools whose parents are below average intelligence. That is the way of the world, people don't fit neatly into boxes. It is views like yours that do anything but garner sympathy for your cause.

A large minority would be not the majority, but still substantial in number.

I didn’t say you are incoherent, just your posts are. They seemed to be quite heated comments around swimming pools and ponies, I’m still none the wiser what your views are on the education tax?

I get where you are going with the prejudice thing and I realise it’s a common argument when pointing out the flaws in left wing policies on social media when there is no genuine argument. My point is that PS are successful because of the selective nature rather than the facilities, the children are from supportive families who value education.

WTF is a large minority? Who is incoherent! It is quite bewildering that you can't even understand how wrong it is to assume that because a child has a certain background that they will not be naturally intelligent and work hard. Prejudice beyond belief. And all you can do is bang on (and on!) about the unfairness to a group of privately educated children. The irony!

Same reason grammar schools are successful, you could put the children in a mud hut and they’d still perform better than in a school where a large minority are not interested in learning and are disruptive. I don’t support limiting any education choice though taxation and Phillipson deliberately excluded independently educated children in her ‘our’ children message.

I don’t know what your view is, your posts are incoherent.

And yet you say this about other groups of children children "Don’t forget that 49% of the population is below average intelligence and ( being brutally honest) its the exclusion of the children of these people that makes PS so successful." I don't agree with demonising children either but my view encompasses ALL children.

Well said!

You see it on here as well
"Oh No, little Anastasia will have to mix with the plebs at school now".
We are small business owners too, Labour do really really hate us!

Exactly! The viciousness aimed at our kids has been disgusting.
As a previous lifelong Labour voter I will never forgive them.

There are some quite extreme views amongst the Labour Party who obviously are not against using propaganda aimed at demonising children. There’s also no shortage of people looking for an outlet for their spite.
Fortunately, there are protections in place for exactly this sort of situation where basic rights are being threatened that are now being put into action. Hang in there, it’s only 4 years at the very worst and there are many other ways to contribute to a charity than paying fees to get these schools through.
I’m now a single issue voter and that single issue is not letting socialists have any control over children’s lives in the future.

@Musicofthespiers I'm sorry you're in that position. It's bad enough dealing with it without being told over and over that you're whinging, that your precious little Sebastian will just have to slum it with the plebs and how all private school parents can afford the extra if they're already funding the current fees. It's sickening and quite perverse how much glee some take in imagining children being harmed ... Also the frustrating tendency to put words in our mouths.. apparently we all think state schools and kids are chavvy, violent thugs, that we're "better" than them, that we're buying privilege. That the only reason we use private is to buy an advantage, when for those of us in our position, we're actually doing it to make up for the DISADVANTAGE our kids have by being ND or SEN. But again, none of that can compare to a quick and easy "rich bastards" narrative.

I'm sorry.

I'm in a similar situation. I work with several children and young people no longer in school after being utterly failed. I glimpsed into my own child's possible future, he is awaiting ND assessment and his early years have been a rocky road. I am well aware that you have to let a child struggle/fail to a degree to get an EHCP. I refuse to let that happen.

We made the decision not to have another (planned and much wanted) child and threw everything into finding a small, nurturing school with small class sizes and an emphasis on pastoral support. Our son is thriving there, he has reciprocal friendships, he is happy. There is no way we can move him. I refuse to let our sacrifices be for nothing. The school is tiny, I have no idea if it will survive.

We live in the catchment of an "outstanding" school but several children have moved over to my son's school, especially if they have SEN. They assure us we made the right decision in our school choice.

At the moment my child costs £0 per annum to the state. We fund his education and therapies as we aren't eligible for NHS services. I'd much rather not have to pay the vast majority of my salary towards school and therapies but the alternative was not an option for us. I earn similar wages to a nurse, in the South East.

The last few months have been so eye opening. I will not forget the Labour MPs glee, their dismissal of children like mine and families like mine. I will not forget the vitriol on Mumsnet and X.