VAT private school requirement to give one terms notice to leave

[KHB]

We have four children who are educated in the private sector. When we did our sums prior to the VAT announcement we could just about cover the fees whilst making many sacrifices to enable us to afford it. We hoped the VAT would be introduced in September 2025, as did the schools we attend, giving us time to work out whether we could afford to continue and give notice to leave if required. Now this has been brought forward to January, the additional cost to us due to VAT is £8850 for this school year alone (spring and summer term 2025). We simply cannot afford this.

Our eldest is due to start senior school in a few weeks time at the start of September (year 9). This school is the most expensive of all the fees we pay. We have made the difficult decision to pull him out and move him to our local state school, who have been incredibly helpful in finding us a place last minute and even allowing us to look around the school during the holidays.

However we are left in the situation where the senior school we are leaving (before we have even started) insist that we pay a full terms fees for pulling our child out without giving the required one-terms notice. My view is that the immediate cost of school fees has increased beyond everyone's expectations, and it would be incredibly detrimental to our son's education and his mental health for him to attend for just one term before being forced to move to a different school. I have written to the bursar to ask him if he would exercise his discretion and consider waiving this requirement. However, I have received little sympathy.

I have heard that some schools are waiving the term's notice requirements to allow parents, like us, to move their children with immediate effect if they can no longer afford to continue paying their school fees. I would be interested to know how other parents have been treated? Does anyone know if there is any scope for legal action to fight the terms and conditions? I would be grateful for any positive contributions. Thank you.

I think it’s incredibly short sighted of labour to introduce this mid school year, and totally understand why you’d choose to start from September. However I think you’ll still be liable for the first terms fees as you’d of had to give notice the first day after the Easter term. I think the paperwork is quite watertight.
We moved a few years ago and I’d forgotten to cancel my youngest reception place, notified them 2 weeks late and despite putting other children through the school they would not budge.

You are contractually bound to give a terms notice. The private school you no longer intend to use will have budgeted for your child to be taking up the place. Either you send your son to the private school for one term to get your moneys worth, and risk the state school not having a vacancy at Christmas, or you will have to forfeit the terms fees.

Write to your MP? Ask them to appeal to the school on your behalf?

Quite honestly you are no longer a customer. They don’t care about you any more they care about keeping their school afloat. It’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to get out of the contract.

Could you not leave your dc in the senior school & move the younger ones?

move him to our local state school, who have been incredibly helpful in finding us a place last minute and even allowing us to look around the school during the holidays.

is this a good school? Quite unusual to have admissions staff working all yr round giving tours, are they undersubscrIbed?

Surely this is only worthwhile if the MP is not Labour. I can't see a Labour MP being willing to write letters which implicitly criticise Government policy. Starmer has been very strong to discipline MPs who go against manifesto commitments.

Not exactly true. She was contractually bound on the basis that the fee was £x. Now the fee is £x +VAT its a bit more complicated.

Its a grey area because its not the schools "fault" the government have done this, however all contracts have to be fair and equitable to all parties. So good faith would suggest that they waive the full terms notice, otherwise technically you're getting into unfair contract terms territory (you're more obligated than they are, they win in either scenario/you lose in either etc).

I think a fair few of these will go to court where parents simply can't pay.

The immediate cost is unchanged, your cost for the term commencing January has changed but you can avoid that by giving notice now

Surely you knew as the rest of us did that this would be introduced. I don't even have kids at private school yet knew Labour would introduce this in early spring and assumed it would be anon.
It's a bit short sighted. The rules of private schools have been like this for ages. They don't massively care about your family finances as they are a business.

But the term the OP is being asked to pay for is Sept to December before the VAT change kicks in. For the term starting in September the VAT doesn't apply so the OP is only being asked to pay the contractually agreed amount.

Tell them you can't pay it, don't pay it and let them take you to court.

Not exactly true. She was contractually bound on the basis that the fee was £x. Now the fee is £x +VAT its a bit more complicated.

No. This is why it starts Jan 1 2025, to allow schools to give a term’s notice of the post vat fee

The term that the OP must pay for - Sep to Dec 2024 - in lieu of notice is still £x with no VAT.

As others said the school won't care. They need the cash

My view is that the immediate cost of school fees has increased beyond everyone's expectations,

Well, not really - it was clear for a while that Labour would probably win and that this was a key policy for them.

and it would be incredibly detrimental to our son's education and his mental health for him to attend for just one term before being forced to move to a different school

They aren’t making him attend; they are just looking for you to pay the term’s notice

Sorry I wasn't clear. What i mean is this is a nationwide issue caused by the government. 99.9% of these kids would not be moving if the VAT wasn't coming in.

So where I was going with it was a (sort of) Force Majeure situation where unexpected external factors mean the contract can be terminated without liability/regardless of what the contract says.

So where I was going with it was a (sort of) Force Majeure situation where unexpected external factors mean the contract can be terminated without liability/regardless of what the contract says.

But it isn’t an unexpected external factor. OP would have accepted this place in March 2024 or so, when it was very clear that a Labour victory, with this policy, was pretty likely.

Governmental policy changes aren’t Force Majeure anyway.

Ask how long the waiting list is. If they have one they’d get paid twice and that’s not fair either.

It isn’t force majeure

I’d move him now anyway. Even if meant paying for his absence. Really hard to move mid year at that critical stage.
Will they let you pay it off over a longer period of time? Or you put it on a 0% credit card and pay it off in stages.
What will you do about the others? Can you move them mid year or will it be Sept 25? Give notice asap so that you don’t miss it.
This policy is awful.

Yes

Even if they have a waiting list, they still need someone to accept that place - it’s quite late in the day and parents may have accepted the second choice place or plumped for state and bought the uniform etc.

It also isn’t relevant whether it is fair. If you pay a deposit for a party venue, say, and then cancel, the t and cs will usually say you forfeit your deposit regardless of whether the venue gets a new booking.

“Will they let you pay it off over a longer period of time? Or you put it on a 0% credit card and pay it off in stages.”

OP’s total cost for the sep-Dec 2024 term is what she was expecting, though. There’s no VAT as yet.

This. I would imagine that the school is is very unlikely to pursue you for breach of contract for the sake of one term’s fees. It would probably cost them more than a term’s fees to instruct lawyers and actually pursue it. Just say you don’t have it and won’t be paying it.

So you want the school to waive their Ts &Cs because you have decided to move your children now, is that correct ?