Doubts grow over Labour’s VAT plan for private schools

[Blanketyre]

Article in the Observer here:
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/oct/05/doubts-grow-over-labours-vat-plan-for-private-schools

I must say they've gone very quiet on it.

They now have 2, possibly 3, legal cases that have been filed against them and another in the pipeline. SEN system is broken but yet Phillipson keeps parroting the same 1 or 2 lines.

I love it that people have voted to say I'm being unreasonable. Good old mumsnet.

What are we supposed to vote on? Whats the question?

Tbf i didn't mean to add the vote option.

it’s a stupid politics of envy decision that is going to make the state system far worse

Don’t be daft @MichaelandKirk
Theres no way it makes it worse. And yes, I’ve heard all the arguments about overcrowding and pricing kids out of schools.

Bridget Phillipson has posted on Facebook this evening about private schools. Comments against the VAT policy are mysteriously disappearing within around 5 minutes of posting.

Do we really need another thread on this?

To be fair, the topic is quite clear in the post heading. People are free to scroll by if they’re not interested.

It was never going to be a plan that would work. Labour liked it because they could use it to distract from their globalist economic policies.

Only someone truly up their own arse can think this is politics of envy. We can easily afford private school and choose not to, as do many of our friends and family. We all agree with the policy.

This is in the news today. It is a new development.

Good to see The Guardian covering this

Government plans to impose VAT on private schools from 1 January next year may have to be delayed because of warnings from unions, tax experts and school leaders that meeting the deadline will cause administrative chaos and teacher job losses, and put pressure on the state sector.

It should be stopped altogether. They are being warned about the unintended consequences from many parties (including the unions). It isn’t even going to raise a decent amount of tax. It could actually produce a net loss. Why are the Labour Party so blind to the negative effects and so insistent on pushing ahead? It’s because it has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with spiteful hatred.

This is good news - if the govt won't commit to 1 Jan now, I think they must be going to delay it to either April or September. (Or even quietly drop the policy altogether after a few postponements, as it's becoming a poisoned chalice, but that might be wishful thinking).

Great, you’ll be happy to pay more tax to educate your own kids then rather than expecting other people to pay for them.

A big part of the rationale for implementing asap and mid year was to catch people off guard and maximise the initial revenue before parents had a chance to make alternative provision. It is almost like they are afraid of proper scrutiny of the financial or societal impacts of the policy.

wouldn’t be surprised if there is a delay. Also wouldn’t be surprised if there are additional exceptions made for send (beyond just those with school named in EHCP), military families and faith schools, which will add to complexity of implementation while lowering the revenue potential. I would be surprised if they drop this altogether, though, as I Ithink they feel politically beholden to delivering something from their manifesto, even if utterly pointless and flawed.

She has also posted on Twix and is getting hammered. Rightfully so as her post was nasty, spiteful, class war stuff.

No.

I‘m just reading the comments on there! It appears that it’s not possible to delete comments on there, unlike Facebook.

Do you have a screenshot for those of us not on please?
Even if you support the policy, the way they have approached it seems to be yet another example of their political inexperience.

Good, I hope it gets shot down in flames. A stupid policy not well thought out.

Oh thank god - she’s an awful woman! As a state school teacher PLEASE STOP THIS Ridiculous hate against independent schools! We state schoolers need them to exist!! We can’t cope. We use their facilities for free. When will this awful woman who is on a rampage realise this. She seems hateful and spiteful. Please stop and instead look properly at how it improve state schools and don’t fob us state school teacher and parents off with headline grabbing titles… the absolute c she is !

We have had so many more admissions into our school. My class has gone from 32 to 34. They are saying they’ll expand us to cater for independent school children who move over. We can’t cope. Please leave it be and drop the policy. Another idea is they are thinking of using TAs to teach the children and reduce the class sizes that way. State school children deserve a qualified teacher Bridget!!!! . Labour stop pissing around with our children’s education. Let us teach, in class sizes that we can manage and stop forcing more children into the system!

Hopefully it doesn't happen. Parents should be able to make their own decisions.

You don’t sound much like a state school teacher. In 35 years I never felt we needed independents to exist.
Language like ‘rampage’ and ‘hate’ makes you sound a bit OTT too…