If you’re charged VAT will you remove your child from their private school? I’m v stressed!

[Liikklu]

We won’t be able to pay the increase. Only hope is asking grandparents for the shortfall which we don’t want to do. Anyone else in a similar boat? Do you think it will literally be a 20% increase on fees or will schools absorb some of it? Our school has said they will address the matter ‘if and when’ it applies.

I am working today. On a tea break. Someone has got to pay the tax. Thankfully, it means I won’t be sat on MN all day tearing people down. Then when I spend tomorrow with my children - I’ll have my wages to spend on a nice day out.

Excellent. Let me know if I win and I’ll tell you where to send the award.

Living in an urban area, just within catchment for a good state school, it’s possible that an increase in VAT makes the catchment smaller as more families closer to school choose state education. and the
Then options for families in my area are the poorly performing schools (which would make me want to chose private if could afford). Poorly performing IMO because of the parents and the way they live. Parent engagement is impt to school success.
How is this VAT good news? Putting more funding into state school isn’t going to change the demographics of the parents who don’t give a shut. Shitty parents -> shitty schools.

@whistleblower99

You're complaining about others tearing people down whilst doing it yourself. Ironic.

Ah that old chestnut

"I am on a tea break"

Whereas

"You are feckless unemployed and neglecting your children"

No, that is ‘the bigger picture’ to you, and as such you’re trying to turn someone else’s thread into what you think it should be about.

Is that for GCSE? That is a bargain I can tell you from discussions with other people lucky you can often double that these days. An effective tutor will generally have a waiting list too long for most people needing them and will be able to charge a very high hourly rate. Several of the neighborhood kids were charging £50 an hour about 5 years ago whilst they were undergraduates on competitive degrees at competitive universities. Think Oxbridge and the Golden Triangle. Dc2 is 1st year undergrad Stem Degree (state educated (painful experience) Redbrick Uni not Oxbridge or Golden Triangle) and has been approached to do tutoring by different companies. We had a look to see what they were being charged out at. Crazy prices!

Uni isn't a preserve of the rich though. Plenty of children go to uni, who couldn't go to private school.

I'm getting quite tired of some of these threads - at the end of the day your views are going to be heavily dictated by (a) whether or not your family is currently choosing to pay private school fees and (b) the extent to which you care about social inequality and (c) if you do care about social mobility/equality whether or not you think this policy will make a difference.

We live in a democracy - if you don't like this policy, don't vote labour. If labour gets in, that is what the nation has decided so in the name of democracy you need to accept it. I didn't vote for the last 14 years of shambolic Tory governments that have certainly left me worse off. I didn't vote for Brexit. I didn't vote to have our mortgage go up by £600/month last year.

I went to one of the most expensive private schools in the country (current fees around £40 K a year). Most of the people in my year group, IMO, were not very bright at all but were given a huge leg up and contacts to get good jobs/salaries later on (or at least they had the social contacts to marry very wealthy ex-Etonians). For what it's worth I do think it would be a good thing if people from wealthier backgrounds were absorbed into the state sector. In the background I came from, I don't think parents were paying out money just for "education", they were paying to avoid having to mix with people from lower social classes. I am not saying this is true for every parent, in particular I feel for parents of children with SEN, but the social divisiveness that private schools create is not in line with my political and personal values. Sadly I don't think this policy will achieve much in terms of social mobility, schools like my old one have enough financial reserve to absorb the costs themselves.

I agree with one former poster about people not understanding that there are families, like mine, that have a decent disposable income (household income > £200 K), certainly do not live in the catchment area of a "good" secondary school but choose to use that school anyway because we don't agree politically with the notion of private education and want our children to experience mixing with students from a wide range of backgrounds - that is educational in itself.

That said, if your main value in life is trying to give your kids the very best in education, then who am I to judge? It's just different life choices. But at the end of the day this does boil down to democracy and on-going squabbling on these boards isn't going to change much.

Good for him and his kids. Nothing to stop those whining about luxury service providers being made to pay VAT from doing the same - ie move to a posh area with well to do parents and well behaved kids - that is afterall what private schools are all about - minus the small class sizes. For the overwhelming majority of private school pupils, their parents are in the top 10% of earners. You’re free to move or not move. You’re free to purchase a luxury service or make do with the normal one. But it’s absolutely right that private schools should be made to pay VAT. Hopefully they will easily absorb the costs themselves - something state schools are unable to do.

What was the data in 2013? Did you see the architect designed science lab built in 2018? How many one-form entry primary schools have their own purpose built science lab?

Didn't you buy an expensive house in the catchment of a super selective grammar school and an outstanding comprehensive school? I know you've name changed but I think I recognise you.

You said it not me…

And who is paying for those subsidies..?

Good for you. Now you’ll have to pay VAT for the privilege and that money will be used to support all children, not just yours

I think we really do need clarity on this "the rich"
If you think Starmer isn't fleecing the state system and richer than a large chunk of people who pay for private school, then you are delulu.

He is hoarding his wealth and pretending to care about the little guy whilst ensuring his kids get the very best without spending a penny. So many people thinking he is going to revolutionise education, on what basis? Rich people in London can continue to use tax of others to ensure Oxbridge? Well, what a relief!

i dont have any skin in the private education debate as my kids are at a wonderful state comp and I never would have dreamed of choosing private over that. However, regarding your comment about the falling birth rate, it’s a fair comment for those with under fives but for the kids who are already in schools there have been bulge classes for those currently at secondary level and they’re the ones that may need to be rehoused as such. I think it’s fair that parents should be concerned as the decent state schools are likely already oversubscribed so it will be less popular schools that have spaces for their children. But on the other hand all businesses have to work within economic boundaries and have to cut their cloth accordingly. It’s sort of the risk you take to try and get a leap on the system that is offered to you for “free”.

To answer your question - no we will not remove or even have to consider moving our children if VAT comes into play (which it will, it just depends how much is passed through).

Friends have mentioned they may have to consider it.

In your position I would absolutely ask grandparents to help. What everyone beating the drum of privilege is forgetting is that these privately educated children are not mini monsters forged from the blood, sweat and tears of the poor. They are CHILDREN. They know what they know, they are presumably settled in schools that they love and where they feel safe. I can say categorically that my parents would spend every last penny on ensuring their grandchildren did not have to move from their schools because they love their grandchildren and want what’s best for them - and as a family we are very much in agreement that that is private education. My parents would be heartbroken if this was us and we didn’t go to them for help (if they were able to give it). Even if they weren’t able to make up the entire shortfall, or any of it, they’d be devastated to not be involved in the conversations because they care about their grandchildren.

At the heart of all this are children’s lives. It’s not a child’s fault if they’re born into relative privilege or abject poverty. The way these situations are discussed on here and the venom in so many responses truly sickens me.

I cannot imagine being faced with having to tell my child that they are leaving all of their friends and moving somewhere else against their and our will. Have a bit of compassion instead of raging against the capitalist machine. And FYI - those struggling are most certainly not the super rich that this headline chaser of a ridiculously ill thought out policy was aimed at. And they never would have been. It’s just the stretched middle becoming even more stretched.

Ds has an excellent tutor (also head of science at his school) and we pay about same amount as @Ireallywantadoughnut36 . Maybe he just isn't greedy in terms of what he charges. He does have a long waiting list.

I can't imagine paying a fortune for a university student (however bright) to do the tutoring . I got a first from Oxford but it didn't mean I was automatically a great tutor.

My 16 daughter was in private school but is currently studying for her "A" levels at the local college. This was her choice. But, if she had elected to stay at school I would have paid the increase. No question.

I don’t agree it’s a luxury at this stage…she just doesn’t want to uproot her children and move them to a new school. This is a necessity.

I teach in a state school by the way and have absolutely zero intention of sending my child to a private school. I do think this policy isn’t a great one and is putting more on the already squeezed middle.

Ask the grandparents.

so let's remove this option from those parents who still currently can?

Definitely group C. I don't think it will touch the sides.

Ive just looked at our school's stats. (Small independent school) We have 13% on bursaries. And 32% of the total student population have SEN of some sort. My older one is one of them.

It’s just the stretched middle becoming even more stretched

And there is so much more of this to come. 🙁

Most state schools are decent. But people have unrealistic expectations of schools in a country with significant areas of social deprivation, even within supposed okay or nice areas. For example, the bottom 20% of earners in Britain earn 20% less than their French neighbours. And that’s without taking into account France’s superior health service, superior childcare, cheaper housing costs. It always baffles me why people expect British schools to be an oasis of calm, disciplinary and academic excellence when huge swathes of the country itself is going to the shit.