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.

The child didn’t need to be moved in December when her private school fees were paid until April at a minimum and then after 2 more months she would have a local place.

This has all been engineered.

While you’re trying to create outrage, do you want to complain about the regular taxi costs incurred sending kids to special schools that are at a huge distance from their homes?

What about the huge fees paid for those special schools since they are all privatised, and the little they buy compared to how much the public sector are expected to pay?

What about privatisation in general, all forcing us to pay more than what the public sector are expected to provide for half the cost and resources, thus fleecing both workers and the public purse? Landlording and buy to let?

Our entire economy is fucked and this is what you want to scream about?

You can I’ve done it myself

He’s in security now

Well, what a surprise.

Yes you’re right I guess so but only stops when you earn over 100k so I’d kind of considered them ‘widely available’. But you’re right!

The council can't move her just because a closer place comes up. That is not how it works.

Council is on the hook for transport till end of Y11.

What a load of bollocks. Can afford private education but it’s the governments problem when VAT is introduced to get their child to school? Daily Mail toilet paper.

Really??? That’s terrible. Even the most over subscribed schools here kept a proportion of places back each year for people moving into catchment.

Rural schools near us are increasingly being closed and kids bussed to mega schools a fair distance away. Villages fight and fight and fight to keep their primary schools going. Can you imagine if the council said “sorry we’re shutting your school, oh and by the way you have to get your child to the new school 15 miles away”. It would be outrageous.

The problem here is not the fact the council has to pay for transport, it’s the fact that the council has got away with closing so many schools and not increasing provision where it is needed. Council shuts SEN schools / PRUs to save money, then realises it actually needed SEN schools / PRUs and finds itself funding endless transport costs. It’s a problem for councils, NOT parents, regardless of their financial circumstances.

I haven’t read this whole thread as it’s massive but I drive my daughter 23 miles one way to school 5 days a week (me or my husband). We live in rural west Wales and the small village schools closed. It’s far but more than do able and we both work full time. My husband’s job is flexible but with breakfast club and early childminder drop off for my younger child, I can still travel 72 miles to my work.

does this mean my daughter is entitled to transport?!?! No one has ever mentioned this 😂

I have read that some local councils are now doing deals with parents where they pay the VAT cost in order to keep children in private schools as this is cheaper than paying for a state school place plus transport.

Well, perhaps that needs looking at then.

Not all children in private schools pay school fees.

Even the most over subscribed schools here kept a proportion of places back each year for people moving into catchment.

That makes no sense at all, so children would be stopped from going to the school in case someone else moves in to the area?

Well you are clearly very driven and capable. Most kids need the guidance of teachers who understand the exams they are preparing for. With a change of exam boards and a lot of catching up to do, being in school is clearly preferable. I’d argue it is generally. Modern society puts value on the provision of schooling for children for good reason.

Why should they arrange transport or pay for it? They are not choosing this situation, it has been forced open them. Who wants to pay for something they are unhappy with?

That doesn't mean that the spaces are in the right areas though. If you live in town A and your private school has closed down and only town B, which is 70 miles away has spaces, it's not a practical solution for any.

If your nearest state school is more than 3 miles, then yes you are entitled to funded transport - this will be a bus pass, train ticket etc unless no routes in which case the council pay for a taxi.

If they were not paying the fees then the VAT increase wouldn’t have made any difference to them?

So you think the council should be able to just move a child to a different school mid GCSEs? Different boards, different topics, disruption to friendships?

Are you on glue?

Lots of pensioners don't "need" the state pension! It doesn't mean they're not entitled to it.

In this case, assuming the child is "entitled" to a taxi under the rules, then why the hell not should it not be provided, the exact same way it's provided to everyone else who is entitled by virtue of the distance they are forced to travel to the only available school.

Why is it different because she was previously privately educated?

She won't be the only child who gets a free taxi even though their parents "could" afford to pay for it. It's NOT means tested, and that has to apply for everyone, not just the ones who Labour voters hate!

The answer is to means-test the taxi provision for everyone, not just those who Labour voters don't like!

Funny how the only school
they could find has close links to the services and a lot of services children . Plus it’s outstanding…… seems like a lucky choice that fits their lifestyle !

Yeh. It’s scotland where you have strict school catchments. The council have to give you a place in the catchment school when you move into catchment, and if they can’t then there’s a lot of faff justifying why not etc etc.

Where on earth do you live that keeps spaces empty just in case? I don't think that's usual at all. Oversubscribed schools are turning children away just in case a different child moves in? What would be the sense in that?
And that's a poor comparison, the private school hasn't been closed.

True!