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?

We have plenty of emails but they obviously contain personal details. Out of 300+ LAs there is email evidence of over 80 saying 0 places for the required year

Sorry but I’m just not going to go by your say so. More details are required re the 0 places as it’s very hard to believe in the current climate.

It will depend on the journey, may be a bus pass. Transport isn’t provided in most la’s after year 11, so years 12 and 13 parent has to sort transport

That's fine it doesn't bother me either way. I work with the parent group against VAT though and I'm not going to post personal emails on demand

I don't really think Labour are doing it for the money. They are doing it because they are against private schools. I hope the litigation is won however and the awful proposed change is struck down.

Trashing the economy for ideology is a proven political pursuit. Why are Labour getting it in the neck for it ?

I think mainly because it’s aimed at children and partly because of it’s dishonest justification/treating the electorate as morons.

Left wing authoritative Governments always want to control education, it’s to be expected but they should be honest for their reasoning in policy making. Attempting to sell it as revenue making or linking independent schools to inadequate state school funding is treating the electorate as idiots and there’s going to be a lot of dissapointed idiots and upset children for absolutely no benefit.

It’s not aimed at children it’s aimed at rebuilding services decimated by the Tories and as for treating the electorate as morons let’s look at Brexit, lockdown, Rwanda, stealth destruction of the NHS (and pretty much anything they touched)……

It’s a tax on education services of people aged between 5 and 18, commonly referred to as children. The treating the electorate as idiots part would be claiming a policy that will be a net cost to the state will be used for ‘rebuilding services’ along with recruiting 6000 teachers, breakfast clubs and a mental health specialist in every school.

Funny, our Labour MP has a company selling holidays to Rwanda

It is 100% aimed at children between the ages of 5-18 however will also bring in some uni students up to 19

You mean the breakfast clubs that have now been put back to 2026?

Oh FFS just grow up. I suspect you are actually older than me judging by your repartie.

@BotanicalGreen

"Oh FFS just grow up?"

And you believe that putting VAT on private education will rebuild "services decimated by the Tories"? How about Santa, or the Tooth Fairy?

I would put money on Mrsbabbecho being older than you.

I think you are quoting someone else. I don’t support the policy. However I agree that the poster is most likely older than me.

Exactly, it just isn’t true. The same parents who are willing to send their kids to a private miles away from their home suddenly are demanding a state school has to be in walking distance… and claiming there’s no places available near them. My state school
was 4 miles from school, and I got a bus, a normal bus, like 100s of thousands of secondary children do all over the country.

You say it isn't true, I say it is and here is just 1 example (there are many, many more). So this parent will have to wait until Sept 26 for a state school place.

I suppose private parents do t understand the system… they’ve never used it.

That doesn’t mean they won’t be without a school place till September though, once they have left the private school and are without a place then the fair access protocol will be activated and a place will be allocated somewhere as they can go over numbers but it won’t necessarily be at the preferred school. What they won’t do is activate fair access protocol before the child leaves the private school which is the same as when children move into an area, fair access protocol isn’t activated until they actually move. Until the point a child is without a school and living in the area you don’t know that they will def need one as things could change. I don’t think the whole process has been helped by the parents who were encouraging all private school parents to apply for a state school place whether they needed one or not as la’s will be reluctant to help until they know a school is definitely required.

Wrong. We used state primary through to end Yr 6. Very few do all through R-Yr 13, most mix and match with state

If the independent system works better for them, why force them to change? Parents often know what’s best for their kids, leave them to it and concentrate on your own kids.

Some dip in and out of state and private at different stages of education. Others have first children in state who don't shine academically so subsequent children are sent to independents. Sometimes they don't shine that much academically either. Possibly because the parents have misunderstood the genetics of intelligence.

or perhaps academics isn't the reason they are using private. Again - a post that screams of one narrow minded view of why some parents use private with no acknowledgement that for many of us, academics is the LAST thing I care about. My kid being able to go to school and not go into burnout / trauma and self harm is somewhat higher on the list. I don't care if there are 50 places available at the "Good" comp up the road, he won't go back there to be brutalised like he was the first time. Just because there are "places" as in a space on a seat, does not mean it is remotely suitable.

Obviously there are SEN and bullying reasons too. No need to be so rude.

@RhaenysRocks - it is completely outrageous and ableist that they are trying to charge VAT on your DCs school fees. Rest assured that plenty of us state parents are against this too.
I am waiting for the netball & rugby club and swimming club invoices for next term that my DC do extracurricularly in the local private schools. I wonder if we are going to have to pay VAT too now or extra costs because rents will have gone up. Clubs have already almost doubled in costs in the last 15 years as is, especially swimming clubs.
I worry that some music teachers will also get far less work because that is probably one area private school parents will cut back on. Some of our music teachers also teach in private schools so we will be getting the music lessons for like £22/£23 per half hour and the private school kids may now have to an extra 20 per cent for the same lessons. It is very bizarre thinking. The same service.