To ask if anyone is clued up on the challenge this week to VAT on school fees?

[feesss]

we went to look round a school this morning and we obviously asked about VAT and the lady showing us round said there has been a challenge this week so it may not happen? Is anyone aware of this? I can’t see much online about it?

You’re the one saying you can’t afford changes in fees.

Care to link. Where has it been reported that the majority of privately educating parents are withdrawing?

I said more than anticipated. This disproportionately impacts Northern + rural areas + smaller local indy schools. The big ones in the South East + London/ big famous public schools will be fine as they generally serve more wealthy families

One sixth of DDs year group have left/are leaving this term and much fewer are starting Yr 7 or 12

So the majority will stay.

The point is that you only need a small percentage of children leaving private education and the state having to educate them at a cost of 7-8k per annum, for this to quickly become loss making. And that isn’t even considering the job losses on top of that and loss of tax revenue there.

They’ll still make a profit and any money is much needed for services.

@twistyizzy
Of course there's a state school they can attend, it just might not be that close or desirable.

94% of kids go to state school, a further 1% are in independent but funded by the state (typically complex special needs) for sorry that the rest of us can't be overly sympathetic to the 5%

“They’ll still make a profit and any money is much needed for services”

There has to be proportionality for this to pass the human rights aspect though - so a small profit fails on proportionality. Even best case scenario of 1.5-2 billion a year is arguably not proportional compared to the overall education budget. So it may fail anyway.

Given there is now a resignation of a senior minister with a spent fraud conviction I supppse some of us were simply naive in assuming this Government cares about following the law more than the previous government. For example, you could never practise as a lawyer with a previous fraud conviction but it appears it is not a barrier to becoming a senior politician.

Evidence for them making a profit because I can provide evidence that shows they won't

Actually there are many examples of LAs saying 0 spaces for in year transfers for the year needed

Really that’s surprising given how numbers are dropping. Will only be 2 terms from January. Fresh new year in September.

‘Parents taking a foolish gamble are not the tax payers problem.’

It’s not the tax payers problem right now, infact PS saves tax payers £4 billion a year but the policy will quite clearly force it to become the tax payers problem. People who are not net tax payers are always less concerned about how tax money is spent (in my experience) as they effectively aren’t paying any.

Investing in education isn’t a foolish gamble, being completely honest it’s keeping my kids away from that sort of attitude and the spite that goes with it that makes paying independent fees worthwhile. It’s a priceless benefit.

Numbers aren't dropping in state secondaries yet, they are still bulge years up until 2029

So it's fine for those kids to be out of education until Sept?

No it is not fine for any child to ever be out of education - whether private to state or state to state. It’s a massive problem and all these kids should be tracked. Educational absences should be tracked for all kids whether on roll or not, except where they are voluntarily homeschooled. But that should be voluntarily, not because the LA has failed to find them a place - all LAs should be forced to create places and given funding to do so very promptly.

No but I’m sure there will be places if parents look properly. Focusing on only one school with zero flexibility isn’t going to give you a place if a school is oversubscribed. There will be other options.

I guess it’s easier to declare there are no places when you don’t get your place of choice mid year. There are places. Sailing so close to the wind that you can’t find an extra £2k to finish 2 terms if say you lost your job or had a big bill doesn’t illustrate prudent financial planning. It’s not really the fault of anybody else that parents need to move mid year. This has been in the cards for some time.

You actually said “the majority won’t pay” which means that more will be leaving private school than staying

once the child is without a school place then the la can be requested to activate the fair access protocol which will means they have to be allocated a place. Unless there are spare places la won’t allocate a place whilst the child is still attending an indepdent school they have to be without a place, it may not be the school of choice or local one. If distance is over the maximum then the la provide arrangements for transport.

Numbers aren't dropping in state secondaries yet, they are still bulge years up until 2029

That depends on the area. In some areas, rolls are dropping.

No child should be a child missing education, whether they have been in an independent school or not. Thankfully, even if there are no places, LAs can invoke the FAP and, if necessary, provide s19 provision in the meantime.

No there are many LAs saying 0 places. Evidence exists of whole LAs, not individual schools. Lots of parents offered taxis paid by LA as no places in nearby schools. How does that save the taxpayer money?

And the LA are then having to pay for taxi at a cost to the taxpayer. You see the irony?

Link?

Still drunk, Love?

Am I being simple here, but wouldn’t it be better for everyone just to let parents continue to pay for their child’s education and transportation rather than the tax payer?

Such an odd policy.

Please don’t just dismiss it, give it a read. Walking groups in particular would be a great way to get that social interaction in a more healthy way.