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

[AgathaCrispee]

Does it worry you that this new policy of adding VAT on educational fees will also be applied to university fees as well?

AIBU to think this will put university out of the reach of the majority of families who will support their kids through Uni?

Also, for those who do go the level of debt they will come out with will be really big.

If they can apply VAT to private school educational fees then they've setup a case for Independent schools argue that it must be applied to Uni as well.

Is this going to create a situation where only the wealthy can send their kids to Uni?

I'm wondering why no one is asking this question!!

Dare I say it, there are parties other than Tories or Labour.

Once the precedent is set for VAT in education, it can be applied anywhere. It will also eventually be applied to healthcare.

This is a very poor policy and political misstep from Starmer which will bite Labour on the bum.

beyond spending hours debating and campaigning on mumsnet @Araminta1003

are you actually doing anything in RL in terms of local politics?

Who am I campaigning for on MN @shewasrooting?

I volunteer extensively in the local education sector on the day I do not work.

doing what may i ask?

So why can we not at least try and go back and build on our ties with the EU which did work previously? Why can we not make that something to look forward to? We cannot undo Covid but we can undo Brexit somewhat? Why don’t we beat them with that they did to our country?

university fees are high as they are. When I graduated, it was £1100 a year. Good old times.

but on another thread you say* *I am not from a privileged background. I am from a working class background, and I know that children only get one chance**

with parents that were in jobs that both allowed for international positions and funding private sixth form boarding school for at least one child?

@shewasrooting - I am not going to out myself but suffice to say I am definitely not campaigning for any party. My day job is in the legal sector. It is as simple as wanting to understand. Post Brexit and post Covid I no longer have faith in a “wait and see” approach proposed by politicians with no expert knowledge or understanding.

i was only curious about the “extensive volunteering” in the state school bit

I don't think they would add VAT to HE as it will impact their core voters.

Sounds like you've put two and two together and made 3 million there.

And no,I don't give a fuck what Labour do with private schools, so it won't be a reason I wouldn't vote for them. If they didn't have a good policy on COL/economy, education and SEND provision and housing that would put me off voting for them because those are the big issues for me and most voters.

With an election looming, if everyone raising political questions is accused of being an activist/journalist/politician with an agenda, it is going to be a long and frustrating few months on MN.

agreed

i don’t think that at all

but i was wondering whether @Araminta1003 passion on this issue on this thread and her views on the need to prove and understand translated to any action beyond mumsnet?

https://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/blog/2019-mock-elections-higher-turnout-and-different-outcome-than-the-real

Here you go, I would like to see more of this in schools, including private schools. We need to get the next generation involved in the election.

I wasn’t referring to your comment, but about others earlier in the thread.

Having university-educated doctors and mathematicians has certainly paid us back. Likewise graduates in other subjects may provide a return to society (and I'm not just counting financial returns). However this doesn't apply to every graduate - how many now work in roles where they could have learned what they need through on-the-job or vocational training?

I think some people are just wedged to the idea that the Labour Party represents the encouragement of tertiary education, forgetting the fact that tertiary education is far cheaper for society and the individual if provided by employers. And so it is a legitimate question to ask whether VAT could be imposed on uni education as an actual deterrent when it is now so expensive for the individual and the country to provide and when there are so many poor people and people requiring help and an ageing population. Does tertiary education for many still represent fair value both for the individuals incurring the debt and society as a whole? So I could conceive of some academics on some courses being worried about this kind of thing, but I agree at this point, it seems far fetched.

I think a better question is whether private tutoring would be VAT rated.

Private schools are not funded by the state, and there is a state funded alternative. Universities are funded by the state, there are a small number of private universities (approximately 10 in the whole of the UK), yes there could well be an argument for these fees to be subject to VAT if private schools are. But certainly the vast majority of students at universities would not be subject to VAT on fees.

if you are going to suggest what young people should be doing

probably best to practise what you preach (and mumsnetting doesn’t count! 😂 )

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pre-election-guidance-for-schools-and-multi-academy-trusts/pre-election-guidance-for-schools-and-multi-academy-trusts

Well @shewasrooting I raised it at DC’s secondary school to run mock elections because of voter apathy and our duty to get the young to vote, but they seem worried about being too partisan. So what do you suggest? Should the PTA be running it?!
The DFE should send out some more information and encouragement.

The Music and Dance Scheme is government-funded. The schools would charge them VAT which would then go to output VAT on their return and pay it to HMRC. The government would then claim the input VAT it has paid on the school fees and recover it from HMRC. Totally pointless waste of time, because the net result would be nil in the VAT department, and the net amount of MDS awarded the same as it was before.

I do know a fair bit about about VAT returns, charity accounting, and funded places at full-time ballet schools, having had experience of all three at one time or another.

Your argument doesn't stand as they already charge VAT for sixth form colleges and don't currently charge VAT for private schools - which is a scandal.

i am talking about what you do in terms of getting involved with politicos

not your suggestions for how to get younger people more involved in politics

unbelievable @Araminta1003

you on the other thread

We didn’t choose boarding for our own DC because we have 4 and simply cannot justify the cost. However, if we qualified for bursaries we may have done it. Most of our DCs are also high energy and the ferrying them around can be a lot to fit in around our working lives.