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.

As I read it, the council didn't offer the place, the school did.m I haven't seen anything suggesting that it's a particularly great school, is it in one of the reports? Either way, we don't know whether the closer ones are better or worse. If they don't have places, the chances are they're better.

If she didn't want to go on a waiting list, she could have appealed for a place at one of the closer schools.

Why does being at a private school automatically mean their daughter won't be close to her friends? For all you know, it's close by, in fact the chances are that it is.

You are as delusional as the current government!

But none of that is the point.

They are entitled to transport.

The story is that this policy may be costing a lot of money rather than saving it as Labour said it would. And it's local government that is eating that cost.

They might have done just that but if there are no places, there are no places. How lucky that one came up after they had added their daughter’s name to the waiting list and that travel costs are covered as the council couldn’t provide a nearer school.

Again, it is Labour’s fault for rushing this policy through. There was no need to do it within seven months of taking power, even if we accept that they had the mandate to add VAT. Even aiming for the next academic year (2025/2026) would have allowed parents, private schools, state schools and councils some time to sort out the mess. Well done, Labour. Well done.

Asking for a place months ago still will not magic up places. You can be on waiting lists for years. Moving for y9 is not a standard time so it’s not straightforward. You take a place where there is one.

Lots of parents waited for the election and then for Labour to definitely do this. There is 1 term notice at independent schools so they would have given notice in September. The dd would have left at Christmas. Then she needed a school place. If you are offered a state school place you usually have a time period to take it up. It’s not left empty whilst dc finish the term. So little use applying in September and paying fees for a term when you aren’t even getting the education because you’ve moved in September. Unlikely there was a place in Sept anyway.

@Sausagehead
Why should she be made to homeschool? She doesn’t want to (nor do most parents hence the discussion on schooling)!

Why should she change her job? Why should she have to pay for school transport - no one else does?

Private schools have been targeted and no one has any empathy for those parents as it’s presumed they’re super wealthy and the increase won’t affect them but that’s not the case. Many people make daily financial and time sacrifices for their children to attend these schools.

This decision by labour will backfire. State schools will be stretched further by influxes of children no longer being able to attend private schools and monies spent elsewhere (extra classes, more staff, possible new sites needing to be built etc) which eliminates the whole reason - making labour money by double taxing people for state schools that they don’t even use 😡

No you are

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves It was a word used earlier. I merely repeated it. A joke!!!

Oo Why the aggression from some on here….Is it reality coming home to roost
It was glaringly obvious this policy was never going to
bring money in
pay for extra teachers
or even level things up.

this was just a vote winner.
Labour reeling the masses in 👏👏

@Plantatreetoday "Oo Why the aggression from some on here…"

I don't think it's aggression to ask someone who has made categorical statements about the impact of a policy to back them up with some data. "I read it somewhere ages ago" just won't cut it, I'm afraid. You'd think if the figures do show the serious negative impact you mention, they'd be all over the front page of the Telegraph. And would be being used to effectively and factually shut down threads like this. And being quoted by Badenoch at PMQs-Starmer wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

Do you wonder why the UK is an outlier in charging this kind of tax on private schools?

Yes. They don't have to afford or not afford the taxi. It's not a relevant consideration. The child is entitled to a state education, and to transport to that education under certain conditions. Child meets conditions, state pays for transport.

There wasn't "plenty of warning" in any realistic sense. Until 31st December 2020 it wasn't even legally possible.

A few posters on some of these (many) threads have stated previously that LAs could end up forking out huge sums for taxis to take students to state schools. They were shouted down and told they were wrong. The fact is that this family are doing what they are entitled to do. Personally I don’t agree with flinging it all over the press - but their LA has a duty to transport the child to school.

My disabled child used to get an LA taxi to school. The LA transport department was truly horrific to deal with. If you don’t qualify then you won’t get it. Even if you do qualify then they’ll do their best to find a reason not to provide it. Frankly if Lincolnshire just rolls over and funds transport to a different county when then they don’t need to just because the family appealed twice, then I’m moving to Lincolnshire. It’s certainly not how my LA operates!

This must be as the crow flies as my children don’t have a school within 3 driving miles yet I would have to pay for them to use school transport, at over £80 a month for 2, which is apparently subsidised. I have had to adjust my working hours to get them there and back on time, using relatives to help with my younger child as I can’t do it all.

“I don't think it's aggression to ask someone who has made categorical statements about the impact of a policy to back them up with some data. "I read it somewhere ages ago" just won't cut it, I'm afraid. You'd think if the figures do show the serious negative impact you mention, they'd be all over the front page of the Telegraph.”

@CurlewKate - the real impact for the Labour Party of this VAT policy is that they have probably alienated, for life, some 600k plus families and their children, from ever voting for them again.
As for me personally, whenever I meet someone who is pro VAT on education, I box them firmly into a certain category as well, like I do with Brexiteers. There are just certain things you are not “pro” to be civilised, in a normal manner. This is simply one of them. It has nothing to do with having children in private schools or not. It is just a redline for me. So is taxing small farms with inheritance tax. No connection whatsoever with farming communities. It is just wrong to do that because of food sustainability and efforts by hardworking families over centuries, sometimes. If others have used it as a tax loop hole, crack down there, not on those who have actually worked the lands.

@IAmMam i assume that it’s only transport paid if your closest school is full. Otherwise there will be a hell of a lot of farmers starting to claim for school transport!

No in rural areas its very common for there to be free school buses. But the nearest bus stop can stillbe a couple of miles away.

“Otherwise there will be a hell of a lot of farmers starting to claim for school transport!”

There may well be a lot of people who are annoyed at Government who start claiming stuff they were always theoretically entitled to, but just did not previously bother claiming as they believed the system was on their side and their role was to contribute and cheer it on. However, once the system goes against them, they feel differently and they make more claims on it.

Like this family. Others are outraged that they are not paying themselves for the taxis, if they theoretically could. Why should they? The system screwed them with a ridiculous tax policy aimed at harming their DC, so they are going to operate differently now and take all they can get? Is that not the angle of the Daily Mail? However, there is perhaps some truth in it.

@Iwanttoliveonamountain upu certainly are delusional and this will be proved further when the 4 KCs start their defence after asking for a further extension to get their ducks in a row. Would love to know the cost of this must be £100k a day for 4 ?

Nope. I grew up rurally. My nearest school was 6 miles away. I got a free school bus as did most of the children in the school.
If the school is over 3 miles away then transport is provided.

@Araminta1003 You have a very low opinion of private school parents.

No I do not @CurlewKate - but anyone who actively supports VAT on education is a certain type of person, in my opinion. It’s sort of a helpful social radar now.
Besides I am a Lib Dem voter and this policy is indirectly good for us, gains us voters defecting from Labour. We are anti Brexit and anti taxing education.

It's not taxing education. It's taxing a luxury.

It is taxing education and is driving inflation figures higher and risking more stagflation and higher sovereign debt, It is economically and socially inept all round.