To think parents of private education school children will be fine

[Bluewhitered]

I’ve seen lots of threads on this topic recently. It would be great to have it’s own section so those who want to chat about it with fellow parents , can without an argument.

But private school parents and their children!! We will be just fine. There’s so much smugness and bitterness and hate coming from people who think it’s great the VAT will be added and force some out. In fact I don’t disagree - add VAT on ! Great, and then we can take either our state places up … win win we have more money to spend on holidays, deposits for houses for our kids, private tutors, extra cirricular activities etc and we can probably move to better areas with the outstanding state schools or OR we pay it it we can afford to keep our children there.

On some of the independent school committees they are working out how to charge the fees differently so the actual fees we will pay 20% on are low and the rest of the money is on stuff that’s exempt from VAT. They are also looking at changing the nature of the schools so the children get their state education allowance and then pay extras on top- like you would nursery extras.

The chance of labour implementing it is low. There are solicitors looking at it now and whether they can change the law to allow it.

So either way we’re not in a bad position - as most of the threads argue we are the wealthiest in The UK- some can’t afford food bills etc so we are incredibly lucky to have choice and it is true we must have money to
even contemplate spending £25k on each child in school.

The vitriol around this is a massive wake up call for those of us with kids in private.

Guess what, many people hate our guts because we had the audacity to try and educate our kids to a decent level. Tall Poppy syndrome at its worst.

I’m not prepared to just sit back now and suck it up. From now on I’ll call my Doc ant 0800 for appointments at my GP. I’ve registered my DC with the nearest NHS Dentist and I’ll apply to state 6th form next year. I’ve also changed my salary so I pay more into my pension, and pay less tax now.

But the best one yet. Took my DC to the orthodontist 2 weeks ago. Saw someone else there 2 years ago and they told me he didn’t qualify for NHS as teeth not bad enough. I took him back with a view to paying private, and someone else looked at his mouth. I kept my trap shut, and then I was told he does qualify as he has a tooth out of place at the back.

Thanks very much. I’m going through all the things I’d usually pay for and saying f*ck this, I’ve had enough. I’m determined to take my fair share of the state now too.

@ElizaDoolittleAndOften that's the spirit! You are really warming people to private school parents.

What is galling and it's not envy, is the way it is assumed we don't care about our children . Typical snotty comment.. 'educate our kids to a decent level.' How dare you. What about the thousands of 'ill educated', clearly, kids (mine included) who manage to get to good universities and get god jobs and be good people from school s that you seem to believe are not decent?
That's the nasty kind of comment that riles normal nice people,

I agree @Tortiemiaw the amount of handwringing about ‘failing comps’ on threads like these is absurd. There are plenty of normal, happy, thriving, well adjusted children coming out of state schools. Given they make up over 90% of society it’s amazing how much angst there is from some posters about their DC studying alongside them.

I mean do I actually produce good work but I only do 9-5pm every day. I never work over time as I pick the kids up and drop them in, I take my lunch hour and I put my work phone away when I’m not in work! This is quite unusual I think nowadays?

My actual work is great but I do no extra outside my hours - I need my energy for before and after work so I can make tea and do everything like walk the dogs and do the house! I definitely don’t work as hard as my husband who has no limits- so I was saying when posters argue saying we all work hard etc in their argument about private school parents saying they work hard… well I do a normal job, and I think I’m paid fairly for the hours and work I do. I wouldn’t be able to afford my kids in the school they are in, but my husband who works all hours earns what I think he deserves , and I deserve what I’m paid for what I do and it’s a very average salary!

This is what I’m hearing people say now. Similar to our position, we pay £75k a year on fees , we would have to pay £15k more - we can’t really do this justifiably so would be more than happy to move our children. It means that system our kids were in no longer becomes doable or affordable so we will take up 3 state places. However - the money will still be there so we can use that for other things for them like houses etc. and it seems a better way for us to spend it in all
honestly. We wouldn’t have even considered moving then before this but it’s made us rethink everything- and I think that’s what a lot of people are also doing (which is why this subject is getting so much coverage) and with dentist etc we have now got nhs dentist places and also go to our normal one if we need to on top.

@Bluewhitered so you are finding you can adapt to what most people do and that it actually can have some advantages (we’re not all either poor or stupid in not choosing to go private you know 😉) 75k x however many years your children have left remaining in school would provide a very nice nest egg for them!

@ElizaDoolittleAndOften has a point. The UK hates private school parents in a way that no other country does. In other countries they actually get tax breaks because they're not using the state to educate their kids which put money back into the public coffers. Here that's not enough, they want to tax us even more to support schools we don't even use. Why should we also forego NHS treatment that we contribute to as well?

Could you list an LA that has done this (doesn't have to be near you)?

How do they decide what constitutes a private school child? Do you mean they'll prioritise Y7s who went to private primary regardless of distance from school?

Think you read something I didnt say, not envious at all as I say I am fortunate to have the option to send my children but choose not too. Obviously not all private school parents are entitled arseholes. Far from it, there are plenty of nice parents but the ones like OP who think money buys worth is exactly the sort of people I avoid. Not bitter at all, this re inforces I made the right choice for me and mine 😘

Except that there will be sod all money available for state schools. 2% will barely touch the sides - and that's if you believe the most optimistic predictions.

Yes sadly I think this will affect a lot of NHS folk who are not rich and are only just making it work. I am a doctor and work really very hard long hours to be able to just afford to send my children to a private school. We only started them there last year. Since then fees have already been hiked by 9% then another 9% this next year. If the fees increase by a further 20% then we will likely throw in the towel and move back to using state education that my children are entitled too. But I know in our city (capital of Scotland) the schools are very over subscribed and almost every area has waiting lists and they can't fit in any more children!! (20-25% of school children here are at private school and I cant see how the state school could even absorb some of that).

I cant work any more hours than I do ( I dont do private work before you ask). If we did have to move the children from their school I would then certainly cut back my hours significantly as I wouldnt have fees to pay and the NHS would loose out on my time and experience. I am fed up of busting a gut working in a very underfunded NHS, which is becoming increasingly hard, seeing colleagues leave to work abroad as it is an impossible task to keep going with less. Fed up of having had an effective pay cut for years now, paying very high rates of tax, getting nothing back -for it and now feeling like hard work and earnings are being further punished by Labours threat to add VAT to schooling. Never mind cutting back NHS hours I will seriously consider relocating our family abroad.

It’s weird to have this victim mentality that the general population “hate” private school parents and then this odd angry “well I’ll take what I can get from the state” makes you sound slightly unhinged. Suspect the vast majority are pretty indifferent. My friends and family it’s total mix of state and private with a fair bit of flipping between the two. It really doesn’t matter. I think it’s a shame this policy is so divisive.

How on earth have you found an nhs dentist?!

Doctors are particularly hit by the £100k tax cliff ones we know working fewer hours to keep under the threshold which shows how daft that policy is.

Yep, sums it up really doesn’t it?! 🙄

Well said!!! That nasty piece of work with their very vindictive views is the precise reason I will pay over and above to privately educate my children - they go to a school that teaches compassion, kindness and tolerance rather than the ‘outstanding’ state school a few streets away from us that is renowned for horrendous bullying to the point that one parent took to walking the pavement up and down the road of the said school at drop off and pick up for a week with a poster board on which he wrote a letter to the parents of the child who was hitting his child daily, asking them publicly to stop as both They and the school did nothing to help….it was awful to see. the list goes on from what I hear from parents at the school.

‘I feel very very lucky that we could afford to make a choice to send her to a private school. I know millions of people aren’t so lucky.’

indeed, lucky. There are also those of us who are lucky enough, but take one look at private schools, the kinds of parents who send their children there and the kind of adults they produce, and think. No thanks.

‘It’s weird to have this victim mentality that the general population “hate” private school parents and then this odd angry “well I’ll take what I can get from the state” makes you sound slightly unhinged. ‘

yup! Go ahead and ‘take’ what you can from the ‘state’. That’s the WHOLE point of paying taxes! To provide services that everyone can use - you aren’t doing anyone a ‘favour’ by paying for things you would as part of that tax payment anyway.
What’s next, you going to ‘take’ having your bins emptied?’take’ having a local library? ‘Take’ having bus services, playgrounds?

‘Take’ away… in fact I would argue that the more people who use public services - without opting out to use private versions - the more invested everyone will be in making them better for everyone.

Isn't the proposal that VAT won't apply for children with EHCPs? The vast majority of children in special schools do have them.

@Itllfalloff

It has been rather enlightening to see what some PE parents think of others, what they think of the schools most people go to, and just how they think they should be the exception to the rule because they are holier than thou because of their SACRIFICES.

Of course most of the parents are lovely, don't think these things, and will actually, just pay the VAT and get on with it.

Not sure where you got this info from. Internet I guess. Labour have proposed a carve out for SEN schools and kids on EHCPs, it’s in the literature. I also confirmed with my MP as my kid is in a private special needs school (paid for by local authority).

AND local authorities don’t pay VAT anyway on anything.

You probably do though 😂.
My kids are too rough for private school and too posh for their school. I should probably home educate the little tikes. But they seem to be surviving the state school despite having to be in the same class with people who's parents have <whispers> made up the spelling of their names.

Mine go to state school albeit a nice one but dd2 has voted with her feet and firmly ensconced herself smack in the middle of the private school set!

It's easy to be lovely when you have enough income to shrug off a 30-40% rise in the cost of a large spend over the space of three years.

@MyNameIsFine

Most people will have that,

the rise from VAT will be 15% so actually the rest is from the school.

Maybe they should make some more SACRIFICES and tell us about it.

Hi there I had missed this was now in their literature. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction please. I am interested in what they have said about implementing it in the UK nations that don’t use EHCPs.