vat on fees- can we have another thread with numbers/type of school ONLY?

[dietcokewithice]

I think it would be very useful for many of us to know what other schools are planning, but it's difficult pull this info out from the other thread as it became full of debate!

Be great if people could just post along these lines - eg

'15 percent rise from Jan '25 - London girls private'

'8 percent rise from September '24, rising to 12 percent in January '25 - North East boys private' - or whatever.

Our school (London co-ed) is raising fees by 4 percent in September. No info yet on what they will do from January '25!

thanks

Home Counties selective senior school.
Fees rose in September by 4%.
Looks like they are absorbing a bit of the VAT - the January rise to factor in VAT means the fees per term will be 21.5% higher than in the 23/24 academic year.

Of the schools I’m looking at one is 20%, one 10.5% and the other hasn’t said. There does seem to be an assumption from the 10.5% one that lunches won’t be subject to vat so they’re being charged separately and not part of the fees.

Berkhamsted School - diamond structure (mixed prep, single sex senior school, mixed sixth form), academically selective-ish. They are absorbing a good chunk of the VAT so fees increasing by 12.4% in Jan, which is quite impressive given that the announcement was today so they will be aware of NI contributions rising too. They’ve said they will keep inflation linked rises in 2025 and 2026 as low as they can.

Am also impressed this has been communicated to me as a prospective parent, I’ve not had anything from the other schools we’ve registered interest with.

Just bear in mind that this won't be sustainable long term. Schools will try and mitigate short term but reserves will dwindle and medium-long term they will be forced to stop absorbing it.

That's not clear. Some schools have taken other measures to reduce cost-per-pupil, such as increasing class sizes by ~10%. Things like that, in combination with reclaimed VAT, might well allow this school to keep future increases at "normal" levels.

They are still doing the maths at our school following the budget. 🙄
Hopefully they finish adding up before next term’s bill comes out.

Our school was waiting until after the budget to confirm fees. Inner London girls' prep (zone 2). Fees incresing by 17%. It is not just the 20% VAT that has had an impact, but also the business rates relief and the increase in NI. They used to bundle school lunches with the fees but are now charging separately as it isn't subject to VAT, but that means it's now charged on top. We have paid for the 2024-2025 academic year already so we won't be paying extra this year, but our dcs are under 7 so we have many more years of fees at the higher rate.

Large Edinburgh all years school - 15% from Jan 2025, with assurance that next 2 years will be level of inflation only. No info on any changes to bursaries.

prep School in bucks 14 % on top of 8% rise already in Sep

Still haven't been told for either of ours, but one had an 8% increase this Sept and the other was 6% - I will not be happy if both pass on 20%.

We've been notified that the extracurricular after school clubs will have VAT added too (after school childcare is exempt though as it's not educational). DD does 3 clubs a week so that will add up. It does seem a bit illogical that I could take her to the same club at a community centre (run by the same franchise) and get it 20% cheaper. But being able to do a later pickup, being surrounded by schoolfriends, and not have to travel to another venue is a convenience worth paying for.

We have recently had messages from both indie prep and GDST school that September is likely to see another increase with the NI mentioned (I do understand that employers NI increase is a bit of a shitter for schools). Another cost on top of rates and VAT.

16% from January. We also had a large increase past September so pretty chunky!

I know of two schools who have announced fee freezes for the next few years this week - a bid to keep parents from panicking it’ll just go up and up I suppose.