To be gleeful that most of us were right

[Wranglestar]

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/adding-vat-to-private-school-fees-has-had-no-obvious-impact-on-state-sector-applications-390546/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2ATdaVlNkJsbtC-KizuW4Fw41obnpvezxnFv4IAFwzJPHXmU90Awr5eqAaem9tMIsn9I0vHSC4jrdYONIA#0rd9makyd4264nstc4us9j77yk5kaoswtLondon Economic

And that private schools has had no impact on state school places. The rich have simply - paid more. Excellent news!

The sky hasn’t fallen in, some kids have left private, some won’t go down that route but given that 94% ish families don’t even use private most people
do t give a stuff!
It’s like asking others to care that you can only afford to drive a Toyota when actually
you’d really like a brand new Range Rover ..
boo and hoo!

We are talking about children here, many with SEND. I get it you don't give a stuff about some children but it IS children and their education we are talking about.

You support the taxation of children's education, not adults education.
Fine.
You support the fact that UK is kow ideologically behind Nigeria when it comes to education.
Fine.
You support the taxation of childrens education as a priority ahead of increasing taxation on gambling or vapes.
Fine.

Just lay off the shitty comments because it's other people's children being impacted here and this is meant to be a parenting site.

So you'd be okay if they added VAT to your kids uni fees presumably?

Ah but no but yeah....
Will be the response!

Is it ££££ though? Normally I’d agree that once a tax is applied, that’s it but this seems to have led to more children taking state places (costing the state), more transport costs and probably increased spending on benefits due to the number of staff who have lost jobs in what are often rural areas. If politicians are looking at it from a financial (not ideological) perspective, I wouldn’t be too sure about this one being reversed, especially if Labour are no longer the governing party. Didn’t Greece do exactly that when it didn’t work there and was there something similar in France with a wealth tax which caused chaos?

Yes to both and both were reversed.

No government has done this successfully, Nigeria has just reversed it also. Fundamentally it always ends up costing the taxpayer more than it brings in + puts more pressure on state schools.
Labour were warned about this but ideology and spite overtook fiscal prudency.

I’d add that you are also talking about (ordinary, non-wealthy) people’s jobs. You know, the teachers, TAs, cleaners, office staff, chefs, gardeners and so on, not to mention the local businesses which rely on the schools to make a profit. It is so strange to see a government actively harm one sector whilst bending over backwards to support those in the car and steel industries. This was absolutely no need for this other than to appease the far left of the Labour Party. I’m sure we are all going to enjoy paying the extra taxes for Labour’s poor decisions soon. It won’t just be those whose children attend private schools who will affected, I’m sure. No man is an island and all that.

Well it's great that there's now more money for the government to chuck into the big black void.

Nothing ever gets better though does it? no matter who we tax or where we 'save' money?

25,000 students have left the independent sector since VAT was brought in in January (despite promises to wait until the start of the academic year. Bringing it in early meant a couple of things- one that the government told a bald faced lie. two that the government thought they could skew the statistics with parents unwilling to uproot their children in the middle of an academic year so the government thought they could say 'see, no discernible exodus').

So now where are those students being educated? The vast bulk one assumes will have now entered the state sector. At a significant cost to the state. Whereas before their education was of no cost to the state. Never mind as pp mentioned about the knock on effects for entire communities where schools have had to close, or reduce staffing at all levels, reduce contracts with local suppliers etc.

It's an own goal. And it was both forseeeable and predictable. Indeed, it was forseeen and predicted. It was a policy borne out of gleeful spite and has - and will- cause untold harm to an entire cohort of students, most particularly SEN students and the small independent specialist SEN schools. It will have no effect on the bigger elite schools for all the reasons others have carefully and logically explained. But logic was never the strong point in the policy to begin with.

A fair amount have gone abroad too ... another loss

Yes they have, both parents and DC. Savvy UK independent schools are opening franchises abroad and teachers from UK independent schools which gave closed are also going over.
The international set are just upping and leaving.
In DDs small no-name independent boarding school, 24% of international pupils have left to go to schools abroad. They and their parents won't come back until Labour goes. But hey, good riddance yes? 🙄

Families are also increasingly looking at boarding schools in other European countries, which are now a fair bit cheaper than the UK. Not only are the UK losing the VAT, they are losing money which added to the UK economy.

www.theguardian.com/education/2025/oct/04/weve-been-inundated-european-private-schools-report-surge-in-interest-from-wealthy-british-parents

So? If parents are happy to send their children off to institutions to be raised, I suppose they are. I can’t imagine shippinG my children off to boarding school in the UK let alone another country where you’ll see them even less.
It’s as if they’ve never heard of Boarding School Syndrome.

Did you read the actual article? Parents are mvoing too, to be near their children.

So a loss of solvent, pro-active, dynamic people from the UK. A loss of their money, their investments, their committment to their own futures in the UK, their disposable spending etc. Now consider that replicated in the tens of thousands.

The element in UK society that says 'well, don't let the door hit you on the way out' is EXACTLY why the UK is in decline. It's the lack of ability to understand the wider context and implications. Just like this government... they forget that people have agency. And you can only fuck them over financially for so long.

Good! Less people using private schools is already a win.

For whom?
Not for the DC forced out of independent schools
Not for state schools
Not for children in state schools
Not from the teachers and staff made redundant from independent schools

So who exactly benefits?

Now now, @twistyizzy , You seem to have forgotten that;

• state schools magically expand to absorb all these extra places for private school students
• state schools magically are able to employ all those independent teachers who lose their jobs
• SEND provision in state schools will miraculously improve for all students
• former private school parents apparently (according to Bridge Phillipson's own words ) can help state school parents advocate better for all children - because state school parents supposedly never had the motivation to do that before **
• all those lovely private school facilities can be sold off for the benefit somehow of the state (house building perhaps?)
• all the non-teaching staff and employees of the private schools and the local community will just magically and miraculously find employment elsewhere instantly!

When ideology enters the door, sound fiscal policies leave by the window.

**still one of the more offensive things that came out of BP's mouth- and there is a sea of offensive things to choose from.

In my borough there are a handful of private schools. I’m looking round sixth forms at the moment - there are no sixth form colleges here and not all the secondaries have a sixth form. If all the private schools closed how do you think everyone wanting to do A levels here could do so? The class sizes, which at A levels for some subjects is about 15, a good size, would double. Or kids who previously could go to a local sixth form would have to travel out of borough.

Is that a win?

(Just to make another point - there are no comprehensive sixth forms here. Every state school has academic requirements to get into the sixth form, some more stringent that those in the private sector.)

Ah yes stupid me 🙄

The only thing to win is socialist ideology and that always works so well doesn't it?

Fuck children as long as socialism wins.

Do those who make such unpleasant comments actually understand that some children’s needs can’t be met in state education? State education needs to be available and accessible to all. Currently it isn’t.

Academy Chains benefit and have an excuse to expand.

https://weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/schools

This wasn't hard to predict. The birth rate has fallen a lot since peaking around 2008-10, there is plenty of capacity to absorb more and more students choosing not to start in private over the next few years, while those wealthiest who choose to, will contribute more in tax to help others receive a better education.

That is most certainly the case for my child. Believe me, we tried.

In the summer I went to Australia (my home country) and toured the schools near to where my parents live because its death by a thousand cuts with this government. There is a great indy option where he could do his final years and which also have good SEN provision which is utterly vital for him. The fees are about 1/3 of the fees here, and we are currently at a small private school with fees under £25k.... not one of the big elite schools that everybody loves to hate. The Australian state governments part-fund independent places because like alot of countries they actually recognise that a strong independent sector can alleviate strains on the state. So yes, we are thinking of packing up and moving. I'm not sure how much more we can take, and the November budget is when we decide. We are not multi millionaires, but our household is net contributing. The Labour government despise people like us.

"will contribute more in tax to help others receive a better education"....er how when the money isn't going to state schools?
Are you that deluded?