to suggest that every single parent with a child at private school apply for a state school place asap?

[sarjd]

let's see how that works.

No, that ship has sailed. The only thing up for grabs is the scale of the landslide and how defeated the Tories will be between Labour and Reform. Labour isn't my party of choice but it's inevitable.

I agree nothing is 100% certain. But Rishi Sunak is no Maggie Thatcher. He is a weak man who is out of his depth. Even his own party no longer support him.

Perhaps everyone should do this and then private schools that can no longer operate can be subject to a mandatory buy out by government, revert to state schools and everyone can attend taking pressure off some of the oversubscribed local schools too.

Those old private schools that have extra facilities (like swimming pools etc) can then be used as an education hub for all schools in the vicinity too.

Sounds like a really good way forward, benefit to society and noone will have to pay fees. _

For years and years, 90% of children that left our state primary to go to private schools either were dyslexic, had emotional needs/very sensitive, ADHD or ASD. Only the very impacted got a full EHCP, the rest were just parents paying up and often only for that child whilst siblings went to the comp or grammar. This is my personal lived experience.
The reason this is the case is because for those parents it was worth paying up for that child as the alternative may have been school refusal/emotional breakdown etc etc.

So yes, my views may be warped by my own lived experience. Some of those children then got good GCSEs and rejoined the state sector for Sixth Form.

I do not know how typical this is across society.

Tories underfunded state schools and imposed an academically stringent national curriculum. Labour are the ones that insisted SEN kids need to go to normal schools too. I think the reality is that both parties are to blame for our collective failure towards children with SEN.

@PrinnyPree how much do you think that will cost?

Honestly amongst my wider group of friends and family those with children with SEN who managed to get an EHCP vs those who did not, or could not be bothered with the huge fight that it is and just paid up quietly, it really is not clear cut! And I also have friends who have set up businesses helping people fight councils to get what should be rightfully theirs in the first place. So that will be another growing business area.

Making an anomalous policy decision like this will never just be simple, private school parents won’t just pay up and shut up. So they can go ahead and do it, but let’s not pretend there will not be ramifications. It is disingenuous to do so. And it is quite unpredictable too.

@Araminta1003 My lived experienced is that of being dyslexic, I also have a dyslexic child - we have never been in the position to pay for a private school and I am happy that many can - but they should pay the VAT as private education is a luxury. You can shout and scream as much as like but I really don't think it won't have much of an impact.

You want private schools to be nationalised so you can send your child there for free? Laughable.

Are we seriously being threatened with people with power and money pressuring the government to help kids with SEN? Dear god, I'm terrified!

Honestly I have never come across such a bunch of entitled people in my life.

Who is distracted?

Go outside of your privileged little bubble. See the people sleeping on the streets. Go to A and E and see the long queues. Go to a food bank and you will see people struggling to feed their kids.
You are all embarrassing yourself here.

The international students are being put off by the new visa rules, not vat on private school fees.

I am not threatening as I neither have a child with SEN nor a child in the private sector. I am merely commenting on my own lived experience.

And I personally disagree that a severely dyslexic child whose parents have paid up for private school should be taxed 20 per cent on top of school fees. I think that is poor economics.

International students are being put off by a myriad of factor including Visa rules, unpredictable Government policies, high housing costs, increasingly better opportunities in their own countries and realising that we have essentially fleeced them for fees to pay for our own domestic students for years. And that it is just not worth it.
And I fully suspect many private school parents will also come to that conclusion if this policy is implemented.

And if VAT on school fees was going to solve these problems perhaps people would be happy to pay it. It isn’t though. Even the IFS say that it’s going to raise a tiny amount. All this policy does is disrupt an entire sector of happy children for no gain.

A severely dyslexic child would probably be eligible for an EHCP, so the parents wouldn't need to pay the VAT. Though I appreciate that getting an EHCP is a long and arduous process if the child doesn't already have one.

International students are a very important income stream for our universities, but the majority at UK universities complete their schooling (and often their undergraduate degrees) in their home countries. It is only a tiny proportion of the total that attend private schools in the UK first.

So I wouldn't be too worried if the number of International students at UK private schools dropped off, as it wouldn't have anything like the same impact on our universities as, say, removing the post study work visas etc.

I don't want my child sent there for free I like my school. Why is it laughable? A rich persons children are no more important than a working class persons. I don't think childrens access to education should be connected to the wealth of their parents. I think if privately educated children had to go to the same schools as kids from council estates I think our state education provision would probably improve 10 fold over night. 😊

@PrinnyPree

I agree, just look at all the threads here and media attention that is given to an issue which impacts a tiny and privileged majority.

Imagine if the people who can make this much noise and wield this much influence were fighting for better state education?

So because it won't be enough money to fix all these problems, it shouldn't be taken at all? Does that go for all the different taxes people have to pay?

It won't disrupt an entire sector of happy children. Most will be kept at their school because their wealthy parents can afford the VAT. Those whose parents can't afford it may well prefer being the well off kid in a comp Vs the poor kid in a private school.

Well of course they should. Do you think they shouldn’t ?

The state offers school places to all children who apply for one.

So what should she do ?

There’s a danger that the policy could end up costing the taxpayer though. Surely that’s not a good idea if we want to improve other areas?

It is fair taxation.
I really hope now that Labour are not weak and do not give in.

@PrinnyPree many children of wealthy parents go to state schools. What you will find that the schools that most of them go to are in very expensive catchment areas and/or grammar schools which involve paying for tutoring.

This hasn't helped the rump of other state schools, and there would still be this inequality if all private schools closed. And if all private schools in this country closed the extremely wealthy parents would send their children to international boarding schools in other countries. Our state schools would not benefit from them. Just like they won't benefit from this policy.

If there was a mandatory closing of private schools, how much do you think it would cost for the state to buy the assets of these schools? How much would the education budget be slashed to enable that to happen? How would this benefit children in state schools?