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!

Well…haven’t read all the posts - this subject usually turns into a fight - but I can talk about how it impacts my family, and how this isn’t beneficial for people who thought this was a good policy...

We are currently just scraping it together to keep two kids in private post VAT. Their school is one where the vast majority of the students come out with 10 8/9 grades at GCSE - which is in stark contrast to our local state school. The most competitive grammars and state schools that are still local-ish to us - the ones that weren’t an option at 11plus due to catchments - will be an option for sixth form, and that’s where my kids will go for A-level. Essentially, they’ll be taking up places that they may not have taken had the VAT not come in. Less places for truly deserving students - not a good thing! We’ll be seeing much more of this type of scenario in the next few years, before the impact of more money going into the state sector can be felt. Arguably, no-one wins…though personally we will save some money in the process I suppose 😉

@Wranglestar It was a badly thought through policy and the impact will be seen, but not necessarily immediately but, as others have said, those parents are most likely going to 'stick it out' as kids might be in the middle of GCSEs/A-levels.

Btw such a cruel thing to implement in the middle of a year and not phase it in. Unbelievable really when there is so much talk about kids mental health!

I can't believe that the UK is now one of the very, very very few countries that tax education. It's quite shameful.

Hey OP in another year or two you can post another gleeful thread that this also didn't happen. They're a gift that keeps on giving!

OP's post just reeks of envy. If you want more money, go out and earn it. Plenty of the people who send their kids to private school do just that, paying higher tax rates on top of using the government educational and health services less. A useful discussion would be about an all-in tax rate and conversation about whether we have a structure that promotes exceptional performance in anyone, because that's what we need to compete in the world.

The rich (and I am not even close to rich) always pay more for everything, don't you realise?

You sound lovely to be gleeful at other people's misery.
You are also a bit stupid if you think you can see the results of a policy implemented a few weeks ago.
And no my kids have never been to private school.

Spot on. Envy is everywhere, I am afraid. But special envy is reserved for private school children. I am a state school product and have always thought 'bloody bastards' when I saw private school uniformed children. I detested them. The envy was palpable, unreasonable. Seized by envy, I googled the fees and realised I can afford a minor day school. Then I realised that if you don't go on holidays at all, if you don't re-decorate and buy new cars/clothes/etc. you can send at least 1 child to a minor day school with two parents working. However, having put dc through private education, I now think it is a very elaborate scam.

The key word here is “obvious”

What does “obvious” look like to Labour?

In terms of numbers? The mass migration is obvious, and it’s huge negative impact on nhs & housing for citizens. Yet, it’s apparent that Labour is not reacting because it’s not ? Obvious? .

Obvious means something different to Labour. And they announced this today to distract from …. Welfare cuts & Negative press ….

Perhaps we could be pleased that more funding has been raised that is desperately needed for our health, care and education systems?

It is way too early to tell. Fees were bought in mid-year and most parents will do their best not to interrupt an academic year and maintain the status quo till the end of the summer term.

Likewise if a child is in Y10 or Y11, having started their GCSE courses, many parents will make sacrifice's to keep them in private education until these exams are over and make alternative arrangements for 6th Form.

I think all in all, it will take a few years to play out.

Yes indeed. And in the case of several of my fellow private school parents who are leaving in September one parent is either going part time or quitting all together because they no longer have to fund school fees. A loss to the government of their income tax.

There have been plenty of threads where parents have spoken about what it means for them. To be 'gleeful' because a stupid ideological tax that is never ever going to do what the government pretends it was going to do.

Laugh away OP. Laugh away. Talk to us in 2 years when your state schools are so massively oversubscribed and no extra lovely money has come into them.

But so far it hasn't.

Unless you are Eton reclaiming input VAT or one of Starmer's 4 KCs gearing up for the legal battle.

Can you provide a source for this funding that has been raised and tell us how much?

Don't forget that every child moving private to state now costs the taxpayer at least £7k instead of £0.

And then there are the cases where the local council are now funding the private school instead of the parents (and transport) as they managed to get it named on an ECHP.

Yes, exactly that.

We will be applying for grammar over private for secondary. With three children, the VAT for secondary fees will be an extra £18k a year. We will need to earn about £35k extra to pay for it which obviously isn’t achievable for us on top of annual fee rises! Lots of friends in the same position as us.

But then, it's perfectly possible for every child to receive education in the UK without their parents paying anything at all. So paying tax is effectively voluntary,

So it’s posh to point out when people post utter drivel? Cool.

Well you sound lovely OP. The politics of envy right there.

The point is that the statistics are showing us that very few children are moving from private to state. Where they are taking previously empty prefunded places (which is a growing tendency, especially in the primary sector currently) they are effectively still costing £0. It's very difficult to get a non-specialist private school named in an EHCP, so that is hardly likely to be a major issue either.

I think it's going to take more than one school term to find out the full impact of the VAT addition.
I expect that many schools are offering help to some of the existing Year 10 and Year 11 pupils' parents to get them through to the end of the GCSE exam period.

I think it'll be a couple of years yet before the figures for school admissions (to both private and state schools) will be relevant.

How much did you pay your cleaner?!

This was all the scaremongering that we had before and immediately after the election, and I strongly suspect it's going to prove as untrue as all those threats of mass withdrawals from the private sector. Realistically, if 20% on school fees puts so much of a burden on family finances that you have to take the children out of private schools completely, the reality is that both parents are still going to have to work to maintain their standard of living, and will probably be putting the money into things like extra tuition, separate music lessons etc.

But your cleaner retired anyway, so her job isn't lost. As for the hypothetical cleaner who you are no longer going to employ, they are so much in demand that I'm perfectly sure no-one's job is in jeopardy.

This.

It's not the super rich that will leave or no longer consider private education, but those for whom it is a bit of a stretch.

If our kids were little, we would not send them private, but they are nearly through so we'll grit our teeth, tighten our belts and pay the extra.

And the kids that will stay are just very very wealthy. And international boarders.

I used to feel really guilty about sending our DCs to private school. I would keep my mouth firmly shut when randoms would happily opine about how awful private schooling was, and how having our kids do a long commute to a brilliant school where they both had scholarships was tantamount to child abuse (I kid you not).

But the addition of VAT and attitudes like the OP have completely obliterated any sense of guilt that I have. I'll still keep my mouth shut because I'm not a dick, but I refuse to feel bad about our choices.

But I must admit I now I no longer get that guilty twinge when I'm walking into the beautiful theatre, or chapel, or swimming pool, or recital hall or all the other wonderful things that my kids can take advantage of. This is in no small part because the Rachel Reeves does not count my kids as "our children".

And this worries me. Because if the politics of envy displayed in the OP can turn a wet liberal like myself into someone who is less apologetic about privilege, what on earth is it going to do to people who had even more of a sense of entitlement? I suspect it will entrench feelings of entitlement even more.

And as the PP says this will make them even more elite. Which is not good for anyone.

Can’t imagine ever being gleeful that someone else had a bad outcome.

I don’t personally care, it doesn’t impact me ( nor will I ever have money enough for it to!). However, the gains from charging VAT for education are minimal. It just plays to a section of voters who would rather focus more on envy than general economics and strategy.

I would have replaced her so yes a job HAS been lost
As for being in demand maybe where you are but there are almost daily posts on the FB community pages in my area from cleaners who have availability