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

20% rise from Jan 2025 - girls prep, Home Counties

8% Sept 24, no word yet on VAT but assuming the full 20% Jan 25. —Kent Prep.

Also - all bursaries/ assisted places scrapped.

We've just had a letter that we'll be told in September what the January increase will be. We're (dd is) starting reception in Sept.

It's a girls' all through. Hoping we can afford reception to 6th form! Not sure where my baby son will go.

Still waiting to be told what I said on the other thread 🤔

She said people like you I.e goady people who have nothing better to do. She wasn’t referring to you specifically in relation to her other thread.

Haven't heard from either of ours yet but both have already added 6% from September as an annual increase. I'm hoping it won't be the full 20% but wouldn't surprise me.

Then I hope they have joined the campaign against VAT, written to their MP etc. No point being outraged if they've done nothing to try and stop it!
Too many parents have been burying their heads in the sand about this and sitting back waiting for others to fight on their behalf.
Schools will try and mitigate for first couple of years but unless they are sitting on the reserves of the large public schools they will eventually have to pass most of that 20% + fee rises on in order to survive. Or they cut staff, increase class sizes etc.

This. Parents who are cross that their schools are passing on all or most of the full amount - in a way it should be the opposite. If a school is passing on very little, then either they've been overcharging parents substantially in the past in order to have such a huge buffer, or they're going to need to make huge cuts in service (eg big class size increases or lots of redundancies) in order to afford the fee reduction.

Surely an already efficiently run school which wants to maintain its current level of education (including bursaries etc) would find it very hard to mitigate much of the VAT increase? Some will be able to offset with a lot of VAT reclaim, but only some, and only in the short term.

To answer the question, though - London co-ed, no word on January increase yet.

Interesting. I think many would argue that schools have been substantially over-charging parents. In fact, I know someone who attended the headteacher's conference 8 years ago and there was a big discussion where attendees were all expressing surprise (and barely concealed delight) that schools could keep pushing up fees and the parents would keep on paying!

Certainly, the termly fees at my DCs school have doubled in a decade. There has been a lot of big expense (vast building projects) and the head has a salary far greater than a lot of the parents. It's this sort of thing that Starmer is getting at when he says that schools should be finding ways to absorb cost, not the parents. But the schools seem to be keeping very quiet about that.

But not all schools are run like this. Starmer is referring to the larger public schools not the local indi schools. Of course fees have increased, they have to pay wages with yearly wage rises, pension contributions, gas + electric etc
Sorry, I just don't buy the sweeping generalisation that all indy schools have been over charging! We looked carefully at the accounts before choosing current school which is fiscally careful and the majority of surplus goes into bursaries and scholarships, both of which are now being ended if VAT comes in.

Starmer and Reeves are spinning a narrative to justify the implementation of VAT. Reeves has a visceral hatred of indy schools and this is just an attempt to reduce the numbers of schools ie she actively wants indy schools to close down and all kids to be in state schools.

That is so sad. I’m sorry to hear that. Still waiting for our school.

Such a shame about the bursaries. Such a disruptive, spiteful policy which will likely net the government such a negligible sum in real terms. Just can't see anyone benefitting.
Anyway - we don't know yet but expecting the full 20% whack. School being flexible re notice periods for parents who cant afford the uplift.

I think there are an awful lot of schools like this. There’s a prep in Yorkshire that has beautiful facilities but was trumpeting the fact that it has just completed its first full year of annual staff performance appraisals, had a new safeguarding governor from Ampleforth (that well known paragon of safeguarding and good practice!) and had moved its CE prep over to the Atom platform (remind me again why one would pay thousands a term for someone to deliver an app?)

I feel sorry for parents who think that is good value for money. You’re buying something, but it’s not necessarily high quality staff or teaching.

Our local senior (Cambridgeshire) has seen an increase of about £1k/term, to over £7k in a year.

I am just grateful the school can keep going. My DC are there for specific reasons, mostly relating to the shocking quality of state secondary provision available to us in the rural SW, and to their individual additional needs. DC1 has only Y11 left, DC2 is going into Y8. The school doesn’t have a Sixth Form so we knew it would be a move at that point.

I do believe our school is very tight for finances. I don’t know the HT salary but it is unlikely to be excessive. They are struggling to improve facilities beyond maintenance and are not flashy in any way.

They are full in Y7-10 at present - or were before we got the VAT letter a week ago - I assume that was so that a term’s notice could be given.

A local school has just announced the Head is leaving with immediate effect and the deputy is acting up. All due to financial reasons. Quite a shock to staff and parents.

Another has said they can absorb the cost for one term, then full VAT starts from Easter.

My school haven’t said yet. Normal fees up by 8% in September as previously announced.

All in East Anglia.

I have been told (after lots of quite tense correspondence) that GDST will be emailing parents this week. I have been told that a full term’s notice will still be required if we chose to withdraw our daughter. They have said in correspondence that VAT will be absorbed appreciatively but unfortunately after the 6.5% rise already for this September things are very tight for us. We may be able to deal with the fee increase now but we still have many years of school ahead and another hike in a few years time would be breaking point so likely we will cut out losses now.

@Sadteacher are you able to say the school where the Head has left? Or the initials of the school? I lived and taught in East Anglia for years.

There will be a spectrum, though. As @twistyizzy points out the underlying costs associated with running many a private school have been rising faster than general inflation, so no surprise to see that reflected in fees. Have some been taking advantage and rising more than they needed to? Probably. Equally, some have probably tried too hard to keep costs down through covid and col and are now in more precarious positions facing vat. Both positions are problematic.

I’m all for common sense efficiencies to keep costs down, but not at the expense of staff or educational provision, which ultimately are the main drivers of costs. If I were happy with the kind of education you get at maximum ‘efficiency’ (read operating on the bones of their ass) then I would be in state. Too much efficiency and you will also lose parents who don’t feel the provision is sufficiently different from state or other private options.

A frank discussion of priorities is needed at many schools, and our school have been proactively consulting on what parents prioritise / how current families are likely to be affected. unfortunately there is likely to be some misalignment between current parents who are much more focused on near term fees vs. schools who need to be thinking about their longer term financial health and ability to attract future students. My school is a well regarded charitable organisation and everything they collect in fees goes back to the school - it just might not directly benefit my children. But then my dc benefit from major capital investment funded from past fees.

I’m not being goady. The OP asked a question and I answered it. There’s been a lot of snobbery aka “watch your tone, Tattoo.” Is it because I have a tattoo?

whatever.

moving on - it's hard to puck out VAT driven increases from cost of living/cost of doing business increases and the general drive up of fees over several years that IMO has been above inflationary for a lot of schools?

I think it's because you weren't able to find your tiny violin, to sympathise with these very unfortunate parents, who are able to pay for their children's education, and who are annoyed that it's going to cost even more.

We are sharing facts, not looking for sympathy.

This isn't a post about fairness etc of VAT. it is clearly aimed at parents with kids at private schools to ask how much fees are rising. Clearly if you aren't in this category then no need to comment. Posting about tiny violins or smugly saying you dont pay anything because you choose state, is goady

Aren’t they a registered charity then?