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.

That won't work. The family would have to show in the case of each sibling that there is no nearer suitable school, which doesn't sound likely given the information given upthread about vacancies in Lincolnshire schools.

Well, no, that isn't the reason. Have a good look at your local council's budget if you doubt that.

Hopefully the fact that these articles are in the press will make LAs think twice before not allocating a school place within a reasonable distance to a school child displaced by a Central Government tax policy. So win win, the LAs won’t want to pay for transport and this sets a precedent. I assume that is the reason the family went to the press. Let it be a warning to other LAs to pull out the stop to make local academies accommodate private school kids who cannot afford private school anymore. I do not understand why they would not want to anyway. If most of them are going to be privileged and of a good academic standard then the local state schools should be happy to have them. It means extra funding etc from next year as well. It is obviously not ideal half way through a school year either and the Government should at least be compensating state schools for that aspect.

@AlleycatMarie but what you are talking about isn’t home education (even if it takes place at home as the alternative provision sometimes does). Provision under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 &/or section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014 is not home education.

Agree @Convolvulus if you look @bigvig

Local Councils are suffering due to increased funding for

• adult social care ( overriding inc in 18-64yr olds)
• housing ( paying rent to supplement peoples income )

looking in the tiny tiny small print for costs of taxis to schools…..nope……not the problem.

There are alternatives. 25 miles away. Wouldn't have happened had she joined with her cohort, and probably won't need to be long term.

No complete opposite. Interesting train of thought that you must’ve had.

Her parents have saved the state over £16k by paying for Y7, Y8 and part of Y9.

I think it highly unlikely that she will be moving school again before 6th form. So what do you consider long-term?

I agree that these parents are perfectly entitled to the transport, as they have presumably satisfied their local authority that they meet the relevant criteria.

I do however think that they could have secured a closer place by appealing and going on the Fair Access scheme, and that would presumably have been much better for their daughter in terms of not wasting time travelling and being closer to her friends.

The people who strive hardest are those in state schools surely. You and many other posters are using the elitist language of division

So? That was their choice, this is the consequence. She has a place, transport is being funded. The family are not hard done by and the tax payer will be off the hook before too long.
I said it probably wouldn't need to be long term. Assuming they are using the usual admissions procedure and waiting lists I'm sure a more local place will open up at some point. If they choose to stay that's their choice.

But a closer school might well not be as good as this one. And their daughter won't be close to her friends given she's been at a private school for at least the last 3 years.

Why on earth would you go on waiting lists and use FAP if the council have offered you a place in a great school?

I imagine they are pretty happy with the current outcome.

Doesn't mean that you wouldn't see the utter absurdity of a policy designed to increase money in the pot resulting in a net cost of £16k a year instead of £0...

Clearly the Labour Party thought so.

Where else did they think all the kids who would have to leave private schools would go?

That's actually the point of their policy, to reduce access to private education.

On a slight tangent here but how do taxis work if you want to do after school activities or if you were to get a sudden detention? Is it flexible, do you arrange on a daily/weekly basis?
The people I know in taxis travel as a small group and have to travel at the same time each day like a school bus.
I don't think I would be going out of my way to pick a school with transport if there was a nearer option available especially as she seems a sporty girl. It could end up being a bit inconvenient if she was playing matches or attending clubs, etc.

No flexibility, same as any school transport.

Hopefully her interests and sporting activities won’t be negatively impacted.
Although I doubt it.

Because they are saving the state the cost of educating their children.

In this case the council are much worse off now that this child is no longer privately educated as they now have to find somewhere to put her, pay the extra costs for educating her and the cost of transport to said school.

So instead of costing the council £0 to have her educated privately, she is now costing them at least 10k per year for a likely worse job at it.

@Araminta1003

Hopefully the fact that these articles are in the press will make LAs think twice before not allocating a school place within a reasonable distance to a school child displaced by a Central Government tax policy.

If there was a place at a nearer school, the Council would allocate it,
obviously! The Council are hardly going to deliberately allocate a place further away, and totally unnecessary pay the transport bill, are they!

It’s costing the LA £16,210 per year more !

@Iwanttoliveonamountain

Completely missing the point of the thread but you need a bloody good education to understand all the acronyms involved in the education world 😂

OH my GoD IT's As tHOuGh tHIs wasN'T thOugHT THroUGh pROperLy 🙃🙃🤪

Your post is insulting to state schools. Her parents have chosen to force the daughter to travel 25 miles to a school to prove a point. It’s ridiculous. There are always a minority who will want to work the system in their favour. Fortunately, it’s a small minority.

It's a lot of money to you and I, but in the scheme of things it's not that big of a deal. And who knows how long she will stay there. Most parents would probably stay on waiting lists and move to a closer school for their child's sake.

Will they fine them for the 9-11 May though for the polo tournament in South Africa !