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.

My school has offered upfront fee payment again a building project. There had been a sizeable take up

Interesting. I also teach in a state school in a very deprived area. The school provides everything the children need - pens, pencils, PE kits, sanitary products. leaders don’t expect staff to finance these. You’ve got an SLT problem!

From what I have read a lot of bigger schools could potentially use vat recovery by setting off vat on supplies from things like capital projects to avoid passing on the full 20% to parents.

I also think that a lot of schools would phase it in rather than do it in one go. I don’t know what your school is like but I know from friends who have hit hard times that our school will do what it can within reason to help parents to keep the child in. For the school, keeping an existing pupil in at a slightly discounted fee would be better than the child being removed and the school receiving no fee at all. I suppose this depends on whether your school is over or under subscribed though.

Who is envious?

Those wanting to stop people going to private school by raising the price by 20%

But surely just hide the thread if it offends you.

How is this unpleasant?

What will you do if they say no?

You actually think fairness is envy? OK.

Taken from the ECHR:
In sum, by reference to the Convention and its jurisprudence, whilst the Labour motion most recently passed may be compatible with the Labour Party’s pledge on ‘social justice’, it is frankly incompatible with the right to education and plurality of choice in education as guaranteed by A2P1 and the right of peaceful enjoyment of possessions protected under A1P1. Put another way, it is plurality not ‘social justice’ in education that is the core guarantee conferred by A2P1 and it is plurality, not ‘social justice’ which ‘is essential for the preservation of the “democratic society” as conceived by the Convention’. None of this means that the removal of social injustice and inequalities are not laudable objectives for the Labour Party to pursue in the best interests of society as a whole. But in the educational sphere, the means by which those objectives are sought to be achieved must be compatible with the guarantee of freedom of choice in education in the Convention.

But in making that point she was defending herself from some other person who had nothing to add with an axe to grind. She was actually originally on the thread to make a point relating to the OP, not just to pile in because there is unacceptably privileged blood in the water.

If you didn’t use private schools you could probabaly afford a house in a really nice catchment….

It's working a treat on mumsnet 🤣

We have a DD in a prep and a younger DD who we hope will join her next year. We're expecting a fee increase of at least 20% - the fees go up by about 5% anyway in a normal year and the school said they will try to not pass on the full VAT increase, but with the normal increase it would come to 20% or more anyway.

We're fortunate to have assets that will cover the fees for their time at school (prep and senior) so while the numbers will make us wince, it won't change our plans. Unless the school's numbers reduce so much that it becomes enviable, or even if it ends up with such low numbers that it affects the experience (not enough dcs for social interaction and extracurriculars). We're in North London where there are plenty of other preps that we could move our dcs to if our school closed, so we'd be looking at other private options before considering other state schools.

It could be years before there's any changes and the impact will depend on how the law is written, it could only apply for new joiners for instance

Under ECHR:
In sum, by reference to the Convention and its jurisprudence, whilst the Labour motion most recently passed may be compatible with the Labour Party’s pledge on ‘social justice’, it is frankly incompatible with the right to education and plurality of choice in education as guaranteed by A2P1 and the right of peaceful enjoyment of possessions protected under A1P1. Put another way, it is plurality not ‘social justice’ in education that is the core guarantee conferred by A2P1 and it is plurality, not ‘social justice’ which ‘is essential for the preservation of the “democratic society” as conceived by the Convention’. None of this means that the removal of social injustice and inequalities are not laudable objectives for the Labour Party to pursue in the best interests of society as a whole. But in the educational sphere, the means by which those objectives are sought to be achieved must be compatible with the guarantee of freedom of choice in education in the Convention.

I know many private school parents are baffled by the idea but there are MANY of us who can afford to send our children to private schools - even with VAT added FAIRLY to fees- but choose not to,
do NOT think they’re better than state schools and do not think they’re the best way to educated modern children.
And our children are not in those amazing, fantastic state schools that are always in the top schools list - they’re in fault normal schools.
Getting a good education, with a diverse mix of children, in a rich environment.
It’s not all about hothousing and handholding children through exams - because that’s not real life.

We had a 9% increase a term or two ago so I think our school is trying to build up that buffer already.

Did anyone on here ask for a debate on the ethics of private education? Do you think you’re being original or making a ground breaking point?

Although you're about to get six replies all telling you that no, fee increases will start immediately and we should all get some ironing in and cancel Netflix, you're absolutely right. I'm hoping it's implemented in a way I can support and it somehow does make a difference to under funded state schools.

I thought it was number one on Starmer’s list.

He wants it actioning straight away.

So why do they keep posting on threads about it? I just scroll past subjects I’m interested rather than inserting myself to tell everyone I’m NOT interested

So? What’s that got to do with OP, or what OP is asking?

Do you usually go on other people’s threads to make them about you?

He "intends" to but when interviewed refused to put a timescale on it and said it all depends on "parliamentary timetable". I think he is fully aware of the complexities around it and the fact that there will be legal challenges etc

What he says he’ll do in order to win votes and what he’ll actually do may very well be two very different things.

It’s not like ”well, I really WANTED to right away, but you know, it’s complicated… trust me I totally wanted to though” isn’t an age old get out once a political party is in power.