Private school parents - why don’t you take collective action?

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Lots of private school staff are striking.

Head teachers are enjoying extraordinary hikes in their salaries. And there appears to be some kind of arms race over who can spend the most on facilities. Even bursary programmes rarely assist children where families have below average income or who might be eligible for free school meals.

The VAT increases bother parents on MN, but why don’t you take collective action as fee payers and challenge the HMC, GSA, ISBA or ISA on where your money has gone up to this point? Are you comfortable with so many independent schools using ‘fire / rehire’ for example. Is the level of stress this incurs conducive to the wellbeing of your children?

What do you think is going on inside a school when you see that teachers are taking industrial action against their employer?

I think you perfectly illustrate one of the key issues here. It is only part of the picture to look at overall scenarios countrywide as there could be huge variation of impact by area. All it takes, particularly in a more rural area, is one independent school to go under and the displacement of its pupils creates a tsunami for the only struggling state school nearby. That's even before the complexities of SEN capacity etc. Hopefully MPs across the country will be receptive to this line of thought and voice the risks of educational devastation in their own communities. A fragmented offensive such as this could end up being more compelling/effective than the big picture analysis, not least because it makes it all more real and human. I hope it all works out for you and that your school does not close.

Children are already being harmed, though, by the irresponsible politics of Labour’s positioning on this. I know more than one family disrupting their child’s education because a sudden imposition of vat (which is what labour have promised) would be disastrous. Schools are dealing with declining rolls because parents ar e nervous about the uncertainties.

Yes and so difficult that people are having to make decisions about September now in the midst of such uncertainty and election positioning. It must be very difficult trying to manage that situation with children too as it is not fair to just spring on them 'you are starting at a new school in a fortnight'. I can see why people are so angry. As you say, the fall out is already there as perception/expectation drives reality.

I am incensed as a life long Labour voter at the absolutely idiotic policy the party are considering. I have no faith in their ability to run a government if this is the best they’ve got.

I will not be voting Labour, I hope people see sense and look at women have a penis Keir Starmer and see what a threat he is to human rights and liberty.

Oh definitely. Our school put out a letter this week saying how they plan to mitigate and pointed out that it will mean they can claim VAT back on building works and other things. We got a lovely little pie chart pointing out that VAT claimed back will outweigh VAT paid and how they plan to use it. Certainly it appears there will be a net tax loss rather than tax gain.

Just as has been pointed out all over the shop which the labour party appear to ignore. Because it's not a fiscal policy, it's an ideological one.

@27Mankinis I hope all schools do some modelling like this so people are aware, as I imagine a number of parents are considering their options for September already.

This can't be true; the school can only offset VAT out against VAT in, they can't claim more back in any individual year. Most schools are working on a rate of around 15% and seem to be planning on funding it through cutting staff packages.

I work in a private school and have a ds in another private school. As a member of staff I get another view of the issues that parents wouldn't necessarily know anything about. Private schools are very clever at putting on a good show and pretending everything is rosy in the garden.

The school I work in came very close to strikes. My ds school have lost a lot of staff with more leaving at the end of this term. The HT always puts a positive spin on staff turnover, but even he is leaving! I'm really worried about the academic standards which I think are already being affected. Ds is year 10 so GCSEs next summer, we are moving him to a state 6th form after that. Frankly I think his school is in danger of having to close in the next few years.

We're a small school so no huge expenditure on buildings and facilities - so we've worked out the offset will only result in an effective 17% increase. But then that goes to show how this will impact those schools and not the bigger wealthier ones as much

As this is an anonymous forum it would be helpful to know what those who work within schools have been told about any initiatives? I’ve just emailed our bursar as the silence has been deafening.

They have brought in a Fees in Advance scheme but have stated any changes to VAT would have to be accommodated.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-fill-in-and-submit-your-vat-return-vat-notice-70012

If input VAT exceeds output VAT, a repayment is due, so yes it is possible. VAT on capital expenditure may also be recoverable, including expenditure incurred before a change in VAT status.

So labour is planning to raise some £1.7bn in vat. By not taking up state school places private school students save the govt some £4.4bn. it is predicted with vat some 10 to 30% of children will be pulled out of private education so it seems unlikely labour will break even?
Our son's school will not survive with 20-30% of children leaving and a number of other prep schools will also close. Near us 2 prep schools have closed in the last 7 years pre vat..
Our daughter's senior school will probably be ok as it's larger and the fees are lower..
It's a shit show.. no increased revenue for govt, the very wealthy who this is aimed at won't notice, state schools will be more stretched than ever and a load of children and teachers will be disrupted. And all for what? Poking a load of wealthy people in the eye who won't notice..

I should add there is an independent school near us with 30% of children with SEN. The school is already low on numbers. If this is pushed into uneconomic it will be an interesting challenge getting school places for the kids with SEN in our area.

Well, there you go! Though there was talk of not allowing schools to reclaim VAT on past projects.

Yes, parents at my school had no idea that there was a dispute and we were so close to strike action until the strike days were announced, and no idea what the issues were until the unions issued their press release.

Private school parents don’t take action as there isn’t one entity to take action against. Plus on the VAT thing most people will just pay it. £25k on school fees per kid, if that’s affordable another few grand is too for most.

ENT are taking action. ISC is now moving in that direction too.
Everyone has a tipping point. VAT is ours and FYI our fees aren't 25K

The vast majority of parents will not do anything. I know this is your hill to die on but that’s not the case for many many other parents.

True but that's the same across most of society. Many people grumble but only a few take action. It doesn't need every private parent to take action though to be able to enact change, or at the very least discussion!
It is my hill to die on because we can't afford the VAT and it affect my DD so yes I will do everything to support her, as would any parent in the same situation.

If you genuinely can’t afford to pay the extra 10-15% then you need to start looking at your local state options.

It isn't just the 20% VAT. It is the yearly rise PLUS 20%. So we budgeted for 10% annual yearly rise for fees, not the yearly rise + 20%.
The whole point is that many parents are the same as us.
It is like to saying to someone with a mortgage that they should have prepared for a 30% rise in interest rates. If they can't, would you criticise them?

That’ll be even more complicated to implement. In order to do that, they’ll have to phrase the legislation so that it applies to some organisations and not others!

They risk getting into the territory of the cost of the complicated administration of it being more than the amount it would raise.

It Is highly unlikely to be the full 20% on top of annual increases. Schools will be able to claim input VAT and this will mitigate the impact. Plus they will be well aware that parents can’t swallow that great an increase so will cut some costs, defer capital projects etc to manage cash flows.

Inflation is falling generally and the pension payment increase is factored into fee rises this year and shouldn’t increase again next barring as a result of payrises.

Did your fees go up 10% this year? If not then some of your assumed increase wasn’t used.

Maybe not but the political landscape shifts if public opinion is that a policy is a bad one. Just because someone isn’t affected doesn’t mean they won’t support people who are, if they take time and open their mind to understanding the reality beyond the slogans. I have always voted Labour, my DC have been state school educated. However, my political support is based on whether something is a good or bad policy. The more I read, understand and reflect, the more I think this is a bloody awful policy and I hope Starmer is big enough to reel it back.