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?

Lawyers always win as they get paid regardless (unless it’s something they are doing for free but that’s rare unless it’s something where fees can be taken from damages awarded). If money being used on lawyers already within the Sen system and going to shareholders of independent specialists actually went into supporting children with Sen then people wouldn’t have to be making the choice to send their child to a private school when they don’t want to

As do we. The issue in UK is that 60% support the rest.

The issue in UK is that 60% support the rest.

?

If that is stating that 60% of the population are supporting 100% ?

Isn't this thread supposed to descend towards a conclusion that it's just 10 MN posters that are supporting the 100% ?

Mistype, meant 40% of working age people are supporting the rest of society. That isn't sustainable.

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”

If cars are so totally irrelevant, why do so many have to stress the point that they are driving clapped out whatevers just to pay for their DC's education. It's a form of virtue signalling and it is very boring.

Same as the virtue signalling when parents say "we could afford indy school but choose not to because we don't believe in it/we want our kids to interact with normal people"

Whichever ones lift the standards of public services for everyone, to include education, health, social care, elder care, sports/leisure provision, transport and the state of our fucking roads!

‘Same as the virtue signalling when parents say "we could afford indy school but choose not to because we don't believe in it/we want our kids to interact with normal people"’

Hello! yes, we do exist, obviously as only 7% of people pay for private school when many more could but lots of us it’s a morals/value choice. Not virtue signalling because IRL no-one actually gives a shit about it and until now, with this change in private parents having to pay tax, it was never a topic of discussion amongst my friends.
I know there are ones who agree with my choice and have made the same choice, I know there are probably some who can’t understand why we would use normal schools when we could go posh. I know a couple very angry about VAT and I know a couple who are ‘if we can afford fees we can afford VAT.’

the reality is - most parents can afford the extra, but I do see why they wouldn’t want to pay tax if they thought there was a way of wiggling out of it .

Where is the self sacrifice in that?

Yes. Privileged people using their privilege to maintain privilege.

You're right, like parents who tutor their kids for grammar, or the ones who can afford to buy houses in best catchment.
What parent wouldn't do the best for their kids? I would judge any parent who didn't want the best for their child.

Because it is thrown out as a holier than thou comment by posters who feel they are morally superior to any of us who choose indy schools.
Only on MN are people judged for doing the best for their DC, in the real world everyone is doing it with whatever means they have.

It's stating the obvious that everyone does what they believe is best for their DC. The type of car someone drives is wholly irrelevant to that. It is also holier than thou to state what a rubbish car one has to drive to pay for private education and showcase all the sacrifices that have been made. That's their choice.

People whose DC go to grammars and/or those who buy houses in the best catchments don't tend to be on here saying how hard done by they are though, do they? That's the difference.

No they are too busy shouting at the privilege of others whilst ignoring their own huge privilege

That's nonsense. Maybe a minority of them are but most people don't care about other's privilege and are just getting on with their own lives. Are you envious of their privilege? Presumably you made some choices along the way?

Oookaaaay then well obviously you know best however I could show you 100s of comments that would contradict you.

If the comments about cars are aimed at me, I only mentioned it as a reply to those who were making the usual lazy assumptions about those who use private schools. I'm not virtue signalling in any way...just trying to dispel the myth that all private school users are hugely wealthy and are just "whinging" rather than being genuinely massively concerned about how to keep my kids in their current setting, which actually does cater to their needs.

Not at all directed at you. Just a general observation. However, my comment about our local prep being full of Range Rovers and Teslas was not a lazy assumption. It's just fact, I know because I had DC there and I was driving one, albeit mine was usually covered in mud. There are also lazy assumptions about people with DC in grammars or very good state schools having bought expensive houses and paying through the nose for tutoring. That may be true for some but not for all. We didn't tutor and DC got into supposedly super competitive grammars. They are all just platitudes and there is a danger of over simplification from both sides when life tends to be more complex than that for most.

Don't dwell on them. It's just not worth it.

it’s a fact that the majority of children in private schooL come from the top earning/ monied families. How ‘well off’ people feel they are is a very subjective thing…

Of course you're righti just @Lookslikemeemaw but it's also a fact that outside of the few Eton type schools you have hundreds of small, not necessarily very spruce day schools that are within reach of fairly ordinary MC professionals and they use them instead of fighting for an EHCP or entering the scrum of the catchment area game or because their earnings wouldn't allow a mortgage in a decent catchment but they can choose to spend on fees to achieve a suitable school environment. Do I want to be in debt? No. Would I love my kids to have coped at our local state school? Yes. But they didn't. I earn less than 45k. That's decent but not "monied'. I just wish people would accept and acknowledge that actually a fair proportion of private parents are "ordinary working people". You don't have to be on nmw or a zero hours contract to be a hard working ordinary person.

It’s 10% pay 60% of income tax. You can tell very easily those who only take and don’t contribute with no shame, very easily. Don’t forget that 49% of the population is below average intelligence and ( being brutally honest) its the exclusion of the children of these people that makes PS so successful. It’s not academic resources, it’s not the teachers, it’s not connections, it’s not the school trips…it’s the parents!!. It could be a prefab in an industrial estate in Doncaster compared to a stately home in Kensington, but if 5% of the parents in Kensington don’t have the intelligence or motivation to raise their children properly then Doncaster kids will have better life outcomes.

Of course you missed out the ‘that other people pay’ bit from that post.

I’ve noticed those who are net takers are always whinging that net contributors should contribute more. Do you think that attitude dictates lack of success in life or that the attitude comes as a result of lack of success? I’m my opinion, it’s the former.