Council spends £8000pa on a taxi due to VAT on private schools

[Iwishicouldflyhigh]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14403627/Labours-VAT-raid-teenage-girl-private-school-council-fund-8-000-taxi-bill.html

So now a place is being taken up in an overscribed school, a 15 year old has had her eduction severely disrupted and the local council has 8k less in the pot.

Well done Labour!!! One of many stories, i'm sure and so predictable.

It's not about whether they can afford it or whether child has SEN or anything else.

They are entitled to paid for transport whether they are on benefits or billionaires. Because those are the rules.

It's about the consequences of a rushed through policy that has lead to a child who cost the taxpayer £0 to educate, now costing the taxpayer £16k+ a year.

VAT on vapes apparently needs 2 years to implement. VAT on school fees has been rushed through so that BP can get a little frisson of excitement at her 'gotcha'.

Clearly moving schools abruptly as a teen can’t be compared to the trauma of, say, being bombed in Gaza, or being raped, so maybe I should have used a softer word, but to overlook the impact on the child as trivial is also misplaced.

Why are they being described as 13 in some posts? She’s 15 isn’t she? Or is there two girls?

“Anyway, this is exactly what Labour wants. Adding VAT to fees has little to do with raising money and a lot to do with appeasing the far left of their party and destroying the nasty private schools. They don’t care how much money they make or don’t make from VAT on fees”

That is not what people voted for. We voted for breakfast clubs and 6500 additional teachers.

The Daily Fail said 13. But to be fair, there are inconsistencies between the various articles so who knows what the truth is.

You cannot vote for one without the other.

Not everyone can live in towns/cities for various reasons - jobs, cost, space. Our nearest secondary is 6 miles away and so we qualify for free transport for our teenagers, along with about 90% children at the school. Also lots of rural primaries have been closed over the years and the children bused to town schools. It’s just a fact of life.

A headline entirely of their own making. Didn't even apply to go on the waiting list for more local schools. Decided that quitting their job was the only way to make it work. Were surprised midyear by their finances.
Sometimes it does cost money to support idiots in the short term so the child doesn't suffer. Doesn't mean that the VAT decision will cost the country more long term as this will not be a common, long term effect.

What trauma do you think was caused by the parents parading her in front of the press? Allowing her to discuss how “sad” having to go to a state school made her feel and telling her in the summer when she was apparently 13 that the decision to sell the family home to fund her education was hers?

Imagine being able to afford school fees but then turning around and saying you can't afford to get that kid to school?

Doesn't look like the parents bothered to submit an appeal for places at the closer oversubscribed schools either. Can't say I'd want to send my child 25 miles from home to a school where she'll make friends she can never socialise with to prove some kind of point, but I actually like my children, so what do I know?

The long term effect will not be people moving their child, it will be people not sending their children to private school.

But why would you pay if you are entitled to a paid for taxi?

That is like saying that all private school parents who move to state schools should now pay the £8k/year cost of the state school because they were able to afford considerably more for the private school?

Should the multi-millionaire or the Lord whose children are at school with my DD have to pay extra for their state education?

I presume that part of the problem in this case is Lincolnshire being a grammar school county and that she wouldn’t easily/automatically get a place in a grammar school, which would cut down the number of potential closer schools. Possibly they sent her private in the first place despite costs being tight because she failed her 11 plus.

Regardless of their expensive hobbies, they are entitled to a state education and transportation to it, if it is too far away for them to access. I’m sure many of the children in state schools have expensive hobbies, expensive homes and expensive holiday whilst claiming free education since the age of four. Why shouldn’t this family also claim for as much as they can get after how they have been treated?

That's fine but I'd like the secondary school in my town to reopen then. That's why my child goes to a school that entitles her to free school transport because we no longer have a local school.

Some children in the village where I live
now have to get paid for taxis to school because under a Tory government the bus service was terminated.

The VAT issue was never about raising income. It was making a point.

I agree with this woman though. No, she shouldn't have to pay to transport her child 25 miles away to a state school. Her child should be accommodated where she lives. It's all good and well spending this woman's money for her, but nobody should be having to spend it on transporting their kid so far away, unless they've purposely chosen a school that far out.

And as for the suggestions that she should have just home educated her, presumably them having paid for a private education would say they value education, and thus don't want to deliver it themselves.

Well that's what Labour are assuming!!!

@BustopherPonsonbyJones "Why shouldn’t this family also claim for as much as they can get after how they have been treated?" Nothing to do with "how they were treated" Of course they are entitled to claim whatever they are entitled to.

It does seem a little strange that they have not put their child on the waiting list for any schools closer to home, though. And that they are publishing her image far and wide.

I personally think every child should be guaranteed a place in a school within 5 miles of their house. If it full then they have to make a place. Up to the government to make that happen. This sort of transport is ridiculous. All the children dropping out of private schools should just have been given a place at their local school. Create extra classes if necessary. Squeeze them in at the back. The government started this mess and they should have to sort out the consequences

No, that's what parents were hoping.

So rather than pay for transport, you think the council should pay for extra teachers and classrooms at the local school?

Which parents? Those voting for free breakfast clubs for their children?

Yes. All children are equal. Why should some children have to taxi 25 miles a day and some get to walk to school? That is inequality and the government’s policy is everyone is equal.