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.

Hard left! 😂 poor you, having to subsidise the povvos. My heart bleeds.

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.

They're not attacking private education. They're insisting that only actual charities should have charitable status for tax purposes.

But this is how they want to fund all of this stuff….

Except it isn't. a 20% hike hits the small 'cheap' private schools which have the middle income kids, and the private specialist schools like conservatoires. They close, and you have to state educate those kids, which costs you way more than the 20% you've raised on the rest. All it does it push the two extremes of education apart. It's a stupid, ill though through plan.

They tried to scrap charitable status for independent schools last time they were in power and discovered it was a minefield, so I doubt it will happen quickly if at all. But hopefully they will again put more pressure on independent schools to genuinely demonstrate a substantial public benefit

Actually this isn't bollocks. All state systems which are universal (or as near as) have better success rates because of the social cohesion. Look at Canadian education, Swiss healthcare etc.

My children will be far enough through school that it would be exam years so we would have to find the money.

I do wonder if independent schools will pull all the charitable aspects immediately, some parents will definitely demand they do unfortunately.

I wouldn't consider sending one private and the other to state, it's such a massive difference in financial investment in the child.

I would hope if labour do this, it's phased in. I know several life long labour voters who are going to vote blue if this is still on the agenda.

If they can whack VAT on private schools, then they are planning on changing the law to say that education can be taxed, is that right?
will that affect other educational activities that currently don’t get VAT added?
Would it affect uni fees? Or general tuition activities that parents pay for?

They were muttering about this last time they were in power and it never happened.

Even if it did happen I would anticipate that there would be a long lead time before it was introduced, to stop children's education being disrupted at a critical stage (e.g. mid GCSEs) and you would be able to plan accordingly.

I wouldn't make decisions about my child's education based on a future policy which the opposition party may or may not bring in in future.

I think l said that….

If they can whack VAT on private schools, then they are planning on changing the law to say that education can be taxed, is that right?
will that affect other educational activities that currently don’t get VAT added?
Would it affect uni fees? Or general tuition activities that parents pay for?

Why would they put VAT on universal education activities? It’s just private ones they want to do it to.

Sorry op this thread is in danger of turning political but once again energies on equality are directed at the wrong place by people who are ignorant ( in the true gentle sense of the word).

Campaign for proper sen provision and sen training to be incorporated into the pgce.
Then you will start to slowly bring in the disengaged mentally and emotionally destroyed dc who have been locked out of education because no one knows why they can't learn

If fewer than a third of parents take their children out of private, the remaining parents' fees would raise easily enough funds for the extra state school places. There would also be the added bonus of state schools having pupils with motivated, hardworking, striving parents on their books, unlike the feckless, lazy types who currently can't be bothered to earn enough to send their kids to private school.

I was disagreeing with you @ArseInTheCoOpWindow and agreeing with the poster who said the drain of motivated parents is the issue.

Where are you getting the 1/3, 2/3rds maths from?

@ladymacbeth

Low end average cost of fees. Not a challenging calculation.

This is hugely problematic because

• your students haven't got a fecking clue how to build wells; they are not bricklayers, and the quality of the workmanship will be poor
• even if they were good bricklayers, they'd be taking paid work from local tradesmen
• the money spent on flights and accommodation for unqualified teens is huge and could be better spent (not to mention the environmental impacts)

They'd have achieved far more good in the world if they had fundraised from home, employed skilled local tradesmen, bought building supplies from local businesses, and had never left the UK in the process.

I don't think it's fair to the OP to turn this into a general political debate. There have been loads of long threads on the politics already for those that want to continue that debate.

I understand why you're worried OP, a friend of mine sent her son to a specialist dyslexia school (private) after years of being told that he wasn't succeeding. He's now doing incredibly well, though the fees are tough for them. I can see why you are concerned.

My guess is similar to a PP. I would assume that Labour get in in late 24, that this will be in their manifesto and they'll be keen to put it in place, and that it'll be announced to come in in 2025/26. The legalities of this are often quite confused becuase people conflate VAT and charitable status but the VAT question doesn't raise anything like the complexities of the removal of charitable status.

BUT I would also assume that schools will do what they can to soften the blow. OF course they should be able to offset the VAT they've paid against the VAT they add and that could be quite an effective way of reducing the impact on parents, especially for those with big building projects etc. They might also cut other costs.

So if I were you I would assume an additional rise of 10-15% (on top of normal inflation rises) from 2025/26 in planning and then hope that it was less/later/kicked into the long grass.

This is not well placed charity. However I suppose it does provide students at the school with something lovely to put on their personal statements and CVs
Quite apart from the fact the students will he taking work from local tradesmen.

If you have doubts that you could not afford an increase in fees, or to pay existing ones, except if some unexpected circumstances such as serious illness affected your finances, then I think you should look to stay in the state sector.

Sounds like a great example of why private schools shouldn't have charitable status. The world won't stop turning if posh teenagers stop going to Africa to build wells!

Some schools are thriving. Others are not (Monmouth girls is merging with Monmouth boys, for example, as the girls’ school isn’t getting the numbers to be self sustaining any more). A private girls’ primary near me closed a few years back for similar reasons. It was not one with “ridiculous facilities”

This policy will cause some schools to close. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong, long term, but the state sector will have to absorb more children.

I really doubt that there would be a single step up to 20%. If this is a serious proposition, it'll be phased in over 5 years, or not apply to existing pupils. Chaos otherwise.

Alright don't be testy!! I meant where are you getting the idea it'll be 1/3, or was that just an example. Sheeeesh

This type of "charity tourism" is hugely problematic and not remotely the right way for independent schools to justify their charitable status.

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)

Citation needed. Every calculation I've seen suggests it would save the treasury loads if they stopped subsidising private schools.