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.

I don't understand it either. Did they even apply for a closer school? The 25miles away school also said they had no spaces but then it turns out they did. So surely one of the nearer school had a space too?

It doesn't look as if the mother actually asked the council, judging from her comments in the article.

This was one of many of the assumptions they got wrong. The average increase in cost has been 14% so far. But it is not sustainable for private schools to cut their fees against rising costs - many operate on a financial knife edge. So it is likely that next year’s fees will reflect not only the whole cost of vat but inflationary increases (and VAT on that too).

why do they need to get new jobs?

Wow that’s amazing. There isn’t a teacher qualified to teach all subjects - you must be one gifted individual. I doubt there are more like you so that really is not an option for most people.

I suspect they're fishing for a place in a particular school.
Hope it's worth their DD having these articles following her around forever...

To be honest my dd had done most of the work already I just had to book and pay for the gcses

Plus massive increases to NI and minimum wage

It doesn't sound like they're making a point or trying to force the LA's arm.

They would not have been entitled to transport if a place was available at a closer schools. Councils don’t pay for transport lightly so I think we can be confident there wasn’t a space closer.

The transport would only be funded if there was no place available closer. It does say she applied for other schools and was told there was no space.

The council don't just fund transport to any school of your choice - it has to be the closest school with space and only if over 3 miles away

And if rural then alternative jobs may not be easy to find.

I agree. When first VAT registered, these schools will be able to reclaim some of their input VAT spent on capital projects and certain other costs from prior periods. That's a one off so will maybe have been used to set off some of the fee increases in the first year. But the schools can't do it again after they've made their first reclaim, so fees will inevitably rise more than inflation for year 2 onwards, especially with the hike in MNW and employers NIC.

I agree that I wouldn’t put my child into the public spotlight like this but she may feel very passionately about the issue and want to be involved. For all their faults, many young people do want to make a difference. Who knows?

i also agree about moving her closer if a space arose but, again, it’s yet another move (another new start) and the girl is presumably starting GSCE courses shortly. Exam boards don’t always match so it is harder to change.

As you say, the families entitled to claim travel costs (so nothing to stop them) but I would be doing so even if I’d normally have covered the costs (not wanting to add to the country’s financial burden and council’s budget costs). That’s the politics of emotion though.

As a resident of Lincolnshire I'd love to believe you're right and my council tax isn't being used to pay for this child's taxi while other more important services are cut.
However I know that there's a large surplus of school places here, obviously certain more popular schools are full, but the chances that no school within 25 miles had a place is quite unlikely.

No she didn’t actually apply for any closer schools.

It says she tried every school in a 20 mile radius

There's no photo of the child or mother in the daily mail article. Are you thinking of a different newspaper?

It would have been down to Lincolnshire council as their admissions are managed through a portal

This story has been reported in other papers before now, one has a photo of the child in her school uniform.

This is entirely the Government’s own doing. They should have phased in this policy so that it only applied to those joining private schools or moving up at the usual transition points (i.e. reception, year 7 and sixth form) from September 25.

I don’t understand why the Fair Access Protocol wasn’t invoked if the nearest school with spaces is 25 miles away? That’s literally what the FAP is for. I think there’s more to this than meets the eye.

I have applied for Lincolnshire schools mid year, admitted it was 8 years ago now, but although the application was done through the county council they didn't give any information about where spaces were available.

My dc secondary school do wrap around care and it's free. We gratefully use the breakfast club on days when my 16 year old who can't use public transport due to SEN starts college at 9am. There is no 6th form provision in our town so he has to go to the nearest college 25 minute drive from our nearest secondary school.

they also went to The Telegraph and The Times (last month) and The Financial Times - there are photos of the mother and daughter included, as well as more info re their decision/financial background.