To think that people who agree with VAT on private school fees but not on university fees, are hypocrites?

[Blanket601]

If Labour add VAT to private school fees, they should also add VAT to university fees. Or no VAT on either. The principle and rule, should be the same.

Why is only private school education being platformed. I think we all know why.

I don’t have a favourite, my DC go to schools which meet their particular needs. And my privately educated child is very unlikely to go to Oxbridge based on their academic performance and the fact that only one or two kids each year go to Oxbridge from their school. But, as I said, that’s not why they go to private school. It’s a shame that you can’t understand that, but it’s clear from this thread that many people don’t understand why some parents opt for a private education. Keeping my child safe and happy is at the top of my list.

The idea that VAT on private school fees is going to lead to a shortage of NHS staff is laughable. The great majority of NHS doctors couldn't afford private school fees regardless of VAT and certainly other NHS healthcare professionals cannot.

Lots of NHS doctors at my DC’s private school as well as a few nurses and a paramedic. They’re usually dual income families with, for example, one parent paying the fees and the other paying the rest of the household costs. I know a couple of NHS consultants whose partners don’t work but they are usually the ones that do private work on top.

Oh come on! This is a stretch now. Loads of people well paid with unsocial hour jobs just use a nanny. There are other options.

Ad hominem. Anecdata. 😴

Your posts repeatedly evidence judgement severely compromised by personal investment and resulting emotion. The End...

Whether you like it or not private schools are very popular with professional working women because of the wrap around care and the fact that so many extra curriculars can be done onsite. My local primary didn’t even have a breakfast or after school club when my DCs were due to start primary. And living rurally, childminders who would pick up from the school were very thin on the ground.

I think it’s different as there’s an option of a school that’s free and there’s not for university.

I have two other suggestions for private schools-

1. they should be mandated fo take a certain number of children with EHCPs every year, funded as they currently are, so free to the families
2. University should be free, but should only be free if you’ve gone through the state sector (save for those children with EHCPs above)

I am sure that is true. But the suggestion the NHS is going to be plunged into crisis because of vat on school fees is hyperbole.

So why do you want to send your children to private school would be my question. What do you want it to achieve?

Private education buys you privilege in our society, way beyond the privilege of small class sizes, extensive extracurricular activities etc. If you want privilege you should pay for it. It's a luxury item and should incur VAT.

Do you not think your children's education is a luxury compared to a state school education?

Well it’s already in crisis with a massive doctor shortage. However, I don’t think the VAT rule will help. It will be one more reason on the list as to why our home-grown doctors decide to take up opportunities in Australia - where the taxpayer actually subsidises private schools by giving them the same amount of money that state schools receive per pupil.

I don’t think VAT on unis fees will happen in the short term. Because they ideology this policy stems from ideally wants zero unis fees. But in the long term, when there is a change of Government yet again, who knows what will happen. Our Government have been trying to privatise state education via the back door for years by underfunding and making parents and teachers make up for the shortfall. So who knows what will happen. I think it is perfectly foreseeable that they will try and push tertiary education into the realms of business in the form of degree apprenticeships more and more.

I also think a lot of the academics crowing for VAT on private schools - well some of them are going to have to sell out themselves now and push a bit more capital. The end.

My primary reason for my youngest DC attending a private school was that I had a terrible time at my state comprehensive which resulted in severe mental health problems and a suicide attempt. I was concerned that my youngest DC, who had already suffered from severe school refusal and anxiety, would not be able to cope. He hates big groups of people, noise and disorder. I was the same. I believe the whole buying privilege and elitism is overplayed. People’s judgment is clouded by those in the public sphere who went to a very small group of public schools. There are lots of other private schools out there.

The NHS is in crisis but I'm not sure it is due to a lack of doctors. The NHS just isn't paying for them and at the moment quite a lot of GPs are unemployed because of it. There are plenty of jobs for lower paid workers but for some reason people aren't keen on doing them. Perhaps the extra VAT could be used to actually pay NHS staff a decent wage.

Weird. All these people who know private schools stuffed with nurses when the schools actual statistics show parents in Finance and similar high paid professions 🤔

If there are nurses or paramedics with children at your school the ability to pay fees will be dependent on their partners income. If the only way the NHS consultant salary is covering private school fees is via private health care they will either increase to cover VAT.

Yes, quite.

Nurses do not earn enough to pay private school fees.

‘Private education buys you privilege in our society’ -
exactly, they’re businesses -paid for- and should be taxed as such.

Hopefully the privilege is starting to shift. Of our new grads none are privately educated- that was deliberate, part of an inclusivity drive, and it’s so refreshing to have young staffers with some life and actual work experience.

If politicians kids were forced to attend state schools they would undoubtedly improve pretty quickly.

Don't the majority of MPs’ kids go to state school - Labour & LibDem MOs anyway.
Certainly, given the fuss when Diane Abbott sent her son to private school, I’m sure we’d hear if there were others.

Where did I say it was stuffed with nurses. You are making things up. Re-read what I said.

I earned £38k (similar to my band 6 nurse and midwife friends) and paid private school fees. Lots of people use one salary for fees and the other for other household costs.

Yes, just like my situation and lots of others that I know with kids in private schools. My salary pays the fees, my DH’s pays the mortgage and other bills. We roughly earn the same. Neither of us is in finance earning mega bucks.

So why do you want to send your children to private school would be my question.

Largely so they have a lovely school experience and are happy. They’re not constrained by the ridiculously narrow and prescriptive National Curriculum. My year 6 child experienced the spring/summer months spending loads of time outside doing things they love, not stuck in a classroom being made to practise endlessly for fairly pointless SATS. Secondly, so they are taught by subject specialists who can bring out the best in them. Thirdly, so they are provided with lots of opportunities to try different things so that they find out what they love doing and which areas they have an ability for.

Do I think this is a luxury? No, I think it should be available to all children. Taxing the private sector isn’t going to solve that problem though.

Exactly - you used your salary for fees. So what did you live on? Someone else's salary presumably. A salary of £38k is not sufficient to pay school fees, another salary is required.

Your posts repeatedly show you're struggling to understand the very basics of anything. There are loads of NHS doctors* using private schools, it's a fact that's common knowledge among every private school parent and "I don't believe you" doesn't change it.

Again, you're in the luxury position of (1) having already sent your kids private and (2) having spare money. I don't think your claim to be down with the people is any stronger than mine.

*and to help @NoisySnail and @wombat15 that's not the same as saying this plunges the NHS into crisis nor am I commenting on the % of NHS doctors using private schools nor the % of private school parents that are NHS doctors. I use language carefully. There's enough NHS doctors that changing their school arrangements will indirectly affect patients. There's also enough other parents that are value generative (being architects, accountants, vets, small business-owners, you name it), all of whom have customers and employees, and anything that changes their work arrangements has a huge effect on the economy.