School dilemma - is the 20% increase going to happen?

[FredandAmy]

We have one Y7 DC at private school and a younger DC due to start school later this year. Both DC are dyslexic (youngest not yet officially diagnosed but obvious to me and nursery staff have raised it) and the private school has excellent learning support. It has been amazing for DC1.

Planned to send both private but now worried about the potential huge rise in fees when Labour wins the election next year. We can currently afford fees for both by making sacrifices but if two sets immediately rise by 20+% it would mean one would have to leave.

We have a good state school close by, and hopefully she’ll get a place there but I’m worried that the DC will resent not being treated equally. Also worried that DC will not receive the support they need.

Am I worrying unnecessarily? I don’t want to start her at the private school and have to pull her out when she’s settled, and then find the state school doesn’t have any places. Not sure what to do for the best.

You can’t only send one DC. Would be a breeding ground for resentment. It’d have to be both or neither. How would
you choose which to pull out?

Personally, I hope that it will happen but nobody knows yet. You need to plan on the basis that it will go ahead, and then if it doesn't, it will be a bonus for you.

I understand the concern about treating the kids differently, but surely the time to think about this would have been before your older dc started in Year 7? The idea of charging VAT has been around for a while.

How old is the older one? Is there a normal exit route coming up where they could go state? To be completely honest, private schools will be screwed if this happens so I would get your kids into a good state school now if this is a genuine worry you have. Privates will just not have the funds to provide this brilliant support.
There are brilliant dyslexia tutors you can use, my DD is in a state school and one sees her 1x a week 1:1 in school, and we use a maths one out of school.
If you have a good state option, stick them both in there and use the money to get weekend or after school tutors.

Have you got the option to go state for primary school and use those years to save up for them to go private for secondary? Also with the amount you'd save you could get some private tutoring sessions for dc2 if needed?

But I also disagree about only sending one DC and not the other. There are families that have a mix of kids in all sectors, one doesn't necessarily fit every child in the family. However, if money is the only reason you're not sending the younger, than that is unfair.

Sorry, just realised the older is y7. In that case I'd put them on the waiting list for the state school.

I’m going to view Senior Schools in Spring and one of the questions I plan to ask is: if Labout get in and introduce 20% tax, will you pass that straight on to parents, or will you eg reduce the amount of free places and free facilities that you offer, so that you can reduce the financial burden on those who pay?

At the moment our school is funding a huge amount of free stuff for the community and the reason we do that is it’s a charity. I’m already paying for my children’s education twice: once through the income tax and again in private fees. (Some countries do a tax rebate to those parents not taking up a state place but apparently the UK is ideologically unable to do that.)

If Labour are going to scrap our school’s charitable status to pacify their hard left, despite the fact that overall this costs the State more money in extra state school places (it’s been costed so many times by previous governments), then I don’t see why I should be buying other people’s children free swimming lessons etc when I’m already paying twice for my children’s education.

My car is 12 yrs old and tiny. I live in a 3 bed semi. I send my children to private school because our local state school was giving them mental health problems. I’m so angry that Labour are attacking private education to score cheap political points instead of actually making a plan to govern.

Oh sod it I just can’t vote for you Kier, you’re too darn dim.

No one knows if it will happen. It’s a good populist vote winner, but who knows how it would work in practice. It would take more than just removing charitable status anyway - that alone wouldn’t mean fees would be subject to VAT.

In all honesty though, I don’t think I’d start down the private school route if you aren’t sure that you would be able to withstand a large hike in fees. It might not be as high as 20% though, because schools would be able to claim back VAT on their expenditure, which might mitigate the fee increase.

Our local private schools supposedly do stuff for the community as well. It has little impact, and from a cynical perspective, it might be argued that it doubles up as good marketing. It is not targeted at the children who really need it, and uptake tends to be from middle class families who are considering sending their kids to the school anyway. And then there are the bursaries for families who can afford to pay a good chunk of the fees themselves...hardly the neediest in the community.

I'm sure that there are some private schools that take their charitable purpose very seriously, but the so-called "charitable" activities in my area will not be missed if they are withdrawn!

I’m not entirely sure how it works so someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but do private school fees not increase every year?

If so, then whether or not the VAT status changes I’d be hesitant to send them if you can’t afford a 20% increase, with the rate of inflation they could increase close to that % anyway over the next couple of years

In all honesty I think Labour will have bigger fish to fry. The NHS, schools and other public services, the cost of living criss, chasing down the billions that went to fraud during the epidemic just to name a few. I doubt private schools rank high on their list.

Yes, fees do increase annually. Any VAT impact will be on top of the usual fee increases.

It won't be 20% increase I suspect as schools can then claim more vat back and they can cull all charitable works potentially and free places so dropping fees overall.

However the thread is a reason next election (in about up to 2 years' time) so vote Conservative and don't vote Labour.

It won’t happen as Kier himself knows it will end up costing more than he’ll make. Like PP said it’s been around a while cos every time it’s mooted it’s a vote winner but then the government realise it will cost more than it gains.

I hope if Labour do do it the private schools drop all bursaries and charitable doings cos what’s the point? It’ll totally backfire on Labour and the State sector. Populist policies win elections but fuck up the country. Brexit anyone?!

They wont pass on the full 20% because they will take other actions. It will still be an increase though.

out of interest does anybody know how much money the government allocates per child per year for their state school place?

It wont happen immediately even if Labour do get in. I support private schools losing their charitable status. But might not even happen.

If Labour are going to scrap our school’s charitable status to pacify their hard left

😂😂😂😂hard left!

l think they are doing it to raise more money to fund doctors, dentists at medical school. Best news I’ve heard for years. I hope it’s the first thing they do.

This is exactly how the private school I worked at was @MrsBennetsPoorNerves.

We used to put extra performances on of our school productions for local schools to attend. I hated it as it really smacked of ‘oh look what you could be part of if you weren’t poor’.

It may cause resentment

I was in a private sch for 1y to get me away from bullying (removed pre gcse as my dad was prob going to be made redundant, big scholarship for exam achievement theyd never managed otherwise), while my bro was in state

Then I told my parents they'd have to put my bro in private before he wrote off his future in the state school we were both at, as I'm super hard working and would thrive wherever whereas he was going off the rails. He did 3y private while I was state, didn't bother me tbh

It really depends on the school though my education was far superior in the grammar school than ever was in the private place

There won’t be a general election until winter 2024, so your oldest will be year 9, I wouldn’t have thought Labour would enact it immediately - there would be consulation, etc so it’s unlikely you’ll have both at school when/if it happens. I think researching state sixth form options for your eldest would be a good use of time as mitigation.

My private school was part of what's called round square www.roundsquare.org/being-round-square/why/

That did tons to provide education in Africa and students went out there with staff often to build wells, schools, all sorts

Our local private school does the sum total of fuck all for the community. Free stuff 😂

I've taught a boy in state whose brother was in private and there wasn't any resentment at all!! Private schools aren't the be all and end all, our state school is much better than our local privates IMO and the boy certainly never once expressed a desire to go to his brothers school.

Ignore me your eldest would be year 8, I still think it’s unlikely they’ll enact that in their first year, if at all, as they won’t be able to afford the expansion of school places.