To think that those private school parents banging on about their fees

[Thegreatergoodgerald]

Seriously have misjudged how little anyone else gives a stuff??? NHS, social care, state education, public transport, bloody potholes everywhere - that’s what matters to everyone I know.
Not whether or not VAT is added to a business.

YANBU - it’s hardly the end of the world if Clemmie or Charles end up going to a state school. We have bigger things to worry about in the U.K. right now

YABU - of course everyone cares private school parents might have to pay more

YABU (I accidentally voted YANBU as got mixed up by the order - it’s confusing!!)

we are sending our child to private but have considered accepting the state school place we got offered instead. It’s going to be a stretch but our local state school is rubbish especially as our daughter is bright.

also it pisses me off that our best schools locally are Church of England schools and catholic schools and we can’t attend them! (Yes sure I can pretend to be church goer for 2 years but seriously!) why should we fund these then when it’s not accessible for everyone - how is this fair????

If more and more people drop out then actually the net benefit of Labors policy will diminish as more tax payers money are needed to fund each state school place whilst there is a diminished income from charging vat compared to projections.

as someone put it, going private for schooling puts the less strain on the public sector. Where I used to live in Australia, private health insurance is practically compulsory for people over a certain income bracket and it has shifted lot of public health needs to the private sector and the public sector is not overwhelmed like here.. there are other things that can be looked at but messing with children’s education is not warranted!!!

so it will affect everyone - ultimately the poor will lose out as they will be squeezed out of outstanding schools. Brain drain as some of the teachers affected by school closures will leave the sector completely. Two friends whose dd attend different private school only have only 7-10 students in their reception class, if more students leave then it’s not sustainable for the school.

This is an extremely short sighted policy.

Maybe consider taxing the ultra rich instead or targeting companies that are offshoring their profits not the mums and dads who are working their arse off to go private. One of my friends school said they will no longer offer any bursaries if VAT is applied and will reduce their support for local school programs to cut costs

It is creating an elitism with Labours policy not the reverse!! why shouldn’t the middle class and less well off people get an opportunity to attend private school? Why is it just mega rich that can attend - isn’t this creating even more inequality?? We aren’t talking about the Beckhams here, we are talking about the working parents

Yep

It really won't impact where I live.
All the state schools locally are excellent.
Those in the less well to do areas have capacity.
Those who use private schools already live in the more expensive houses.
Our local schools don't get any benefits from private schools so nothing to lose.

It might be more of a problem in somewhere like Edinburgh where 20% of kids are privately educated.

Personally I am totally fine with VAT being charged. Its a luxury service. And the money can be channelled back into state schools. And I don't agree with or approve of private schools.

I get why those who use private education are upset. But I just don't care about that sorry.

State schools are in dire straits at the moment. Can’t see many teachers in private schools transferring into state schools.

There is no additional funding for schools. I can see Government advocating higher pupil numbers in classes rather than building extra classrooms or taking over closed independent schools

I’ll sleep easy tonight knowing the private school is so altruistic…not!

@MariaVT65 we have had a number of low birth rate years in my area. Our two local primaries are not full. One had only 5 kids in reception last year, luckily able to fill up with some Hong Kong arrivals. Most primary schools near me are still advertising spaces in all years but especially EYFS and yr 1 or 2 on banners outside the school.

I think the capacity problem is facing secondary schools as years 7/8/9 seem huge and causing a bulge. Secondary pupils will arguably have to commute further to find spaces.

I’m thinking ahead, now planning to start the 11+ tuition earlier than originally thought. Currently the private tutoring is not under threat of VAT. it’s worth the investment, it will be a lot less than private school fees. Hopefully it will stay that way for a couple of years.
There will be more competition for the grammar now, if some potential private school families decide to go grammar.
Failing that, I’m on the church electoral roll so will just need to show up once a month to make sure I’ve got the ofsted outstanding C of E secondary as plan B. That is based on a points system for how many years on the electoral roll.
Lots of parents do what I’m doing. It’s all within the rules. They just keep quiet about it. This is going to be more competitive now though.

Labour are using the money for teachers and a Leadership programme for Heads. They aren't putting the money into schools
The teacher one is useless because retention is the issue, not just recruitment.

VAT on private school fees will make 0 difference to the economy but will fuck up state education and lead to massive house price rises. So I hope the smug twats on these threads are happy about that.

Talk of VAT on private schools is nothing more than a part of Keir Starmer’s mantra that “we’re not the tories.”

It's not about applying VAT to a business, as suggested in OP.

It's about applying VAT to education.

I think that's wrong. And it's also something that is not permitted by EU in any member states as a matter of principle.

This is a perfect political issue for an election because it has baddies, class, money, the chance to showcase your ‘moral worthiness’ and only a tiny number of people (or more accurately their children) will be affected, none of whom are going to vote for you, and above all, it represents scope for a fantastic distraction from policies and issues that really might make a material difference, or the really serious problems the next government is going to face. It is any spin doctor’s wet dream. The worst kind of politics.

I just assumed all the threads were started by Tory bots trying to panic people. The majority of those who send their kids private will manage. Since most of them claim to be able to do it by sacrificing other things they can sacrifice a bit more can't they.

I don't care if people want to send their kid private but trying to persuade others to vote against this tax at the detriment of themselves, healthcare for all, welfare safety net, clean water, infrastructure and other people's children's education really demonstrates how utterly self-centred most Tories are.

Interestingly, Starmer said in an interview recently that he had no plans to diverge from EU law. I’m not sure how he can uphold this and tax education (which is against EU law).

I’m a real human being and not a Tory bot -but the money from the vat is not going to any of the items you have mentioned!

Money for teachers and a Leadership programme for heads is putting money into schools and education.

However I'm in Scotland so it will be a Barnett consequential and the SNP will probably use it for more campervans and fountain pens.

@Gall10 many parents paying for private school will be net contributors so will be helping to pay for state education funding (crap as it is). Many parents at state schools will not be net contributors.

The local private school that offers its facilities to the state Primary near it, is small and possibly worried about its future. If it goes bust the local state Primary will miss out on loads of extras that it wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise and the private school will be the biggest employer in the area (very rural). So maybe think of that

I care because it's my life and my DS is about to start private school. I also care about the NHS, potholes, state education, children living in poverty, the environment etc etc because I have the capacity to do both and accept that living in a society means I should care.

This policy, if enacted, will just further ghetoize state school education and complete the transition to a 2 tier system. Wealthy middle classes and people who can pay for catchment area housing and grammar school tutoring or who can spend Sundays pretending to go to church instead of working on one side, people renting and in public housing and low income jobs, in the undesirable schools and academy chains on the other. People in the middle who might previously have used their income/inheritances/property equity to send their kids to independent schools will simply join the first camp - pushing more into the second. Truly wealthy elites, aristocrats, landed gentry, completely unaffected and less pressure/accountability from bursary/scholarship kids in their schools.

Less demographic mixing and overall social mobility across the board.

It's a very ill considered plan.

They won't care that you don't care. But because it affects them they are entitled to care.

I see the private school mamas are out in force on this thread now.

Yet to see a single argument that will persuade me.

YABU

Screwing over private school parents will add more pressure onto state schools, not less.

DH and I send our DC to an independent school. We are nearly at the end of it, so won’t be that affected. If I was coming up to reception, year 3, year 7, or year 11, I’d pull them out due to cost.

DH and I both went to a state school, are both from very WC families and wanted our DC highly educated, something that hindered both our careers at times. What the Labour govt is essentially telling me and my DH is “get back in your f*cking box where you belong”. Now there’ll be very few WC kids in private schools, and the divide will grow, not narrow.

Some here think in 2 years time all our state schools will be educational utopias with tax money flowing in, returning teachers to state, PTA’s with open check books and instant high standards.

I very much doubt this will happen. If my DC were younger I’d remove them from private because I’m not shouldering any more tax burden out of principle.

Well lets wait and see shall we and see whether the other MN mamas are on here whining in a few years time that their kids are being forced to go to Harris academy and they can't get them into the nice village church school.

Yeah i know. That’s what i said. Op’s argument about excess places isn’t massively applicable to this conversation as more kids go to private secondary than primary.

Everyone will care when Clemmie and Charles’ parents make catchments tighter by buying a house in the “right” area. It’s already bad enough with certain addresses being catchment black holes.

This policy is being done to prove a point. I’d be interested how much would be raised if VAT was added to private healthcare but politicians aren’t going to risk angering the voting demographic.

Not an issue where I live thanks