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

Local prep (Hampshire) has closed, couldn’t make the numbers work (I didn’t have DC there). I’m waiting to see what happens with the local GDST school. I’m not sure where I live can sustain a GDST all through school, we don’t hVe a lot of high earning people here. Wouldn’t be surprised if the junior school closes

Just double checked. Exact figure is above 400k - but there’s also the free places for kids, teacher pension scheme, and free house…

Apparently it’s the second highest salary in the UK for a head, so not the norm. But it does worry me if heads are on significant six figure salaries like this, they won’t be relating to how hard increases are for parents to manage.

I’ve just looked at my old school out of nosiness - Co-Ed secondary north east. - 9% from jan wrt September but idk how much the September increase is wrt the last academic year. Makes it £19k a year - plus £6 a day for compulsory lunch (assume it’s moved on from the pasty and chips and weak squash I have fond memories of).

Co-ed or diamond structure?

Aren't GDST using their more popular schools to subsidise those struggling? They removed TPS for new staff a couple of years ago and at that point were believed to be sitting on a very comfortable reserve.

Yes they are, but how long can that go on for?

Until closures will cause less damage than running at a loss.

Our school has said that they can't tell us until well into the new term. Their suggestion for those who have doubts about affordability is that we provide rolling notice before the start of the new year. Not exactly ideal.

4.4% added in September. No news about what will happen come January other than a communication saying that they are working through the implications and will revert later in the term after the budget. Expecting we're likely to see a further 18% increase in the amount we pay if the policy goes through.

As per poster above, school has said that if we are concerned about affordability then we should provide rolling notice now so as not to get caught for fees in lieu of notice.

Do you know whether they will be adding (paying) students or laying off teachers to achieve the larger class sizes?

1. Full vat increase
2. reduction in headline fee
3. removal of charitable status
4. removal of all secondary school burseries over 10% for state educated children & those who came via other private preps. Priority for these will now be given to teachers’ children and those who moved up via their prep.
5. removal of secondary entrance exam for existing prep students who started before year3.
6. cost reduction - will remove the settling in year for state kids who enter secondary from year 5. Will double fees for venue/pool hire for other state schools and triple them for other privates. Will stop aligning with the national curriculum immediately. Will increase/develop preschool provision.

@Ozanj - interesting set of changes.

How does removal of charitable status work? Is there some other 'non-owned' structure or trust they can move to which isn't a charity? And don't they have anything in the founding charter which prohibits the change?

It seems like a option which could be attractive for many private schools, but I thought that it wasn't legally possible - hence Labour's stopping the previous proposal to do just that.

Not all private schools are charities.

Small primary, rural area in Midlands. Current fees less than half the UK average, 4% rise in September (higher than previous rises). I'm fully expecting 20% rise in January as the school doesn't have the reserves not to pass the entire VAT onto parents. I'm also expecting it to close within the next few years as this is not a wealthy area.

Fee rise of 5% and no mid year increase, future annual fee rises will not exceed 5%.
selective independent NW.

8% increase in January. Central London Prep.

@Jemimapuddleduk That's a great update!

circa 15%. No guarantees afterward. Small indy in the south. 500 pupils approx 20% on bursaries. 27% are SEN. They did large capital works in the past 5 years and hope to recoup a bit apparently.

The school has said that to help mitigate they plan to reduce their staff (mainly peripatetic music and drama staff) by about 25 this academic year with more cuts to follow. They are also cutting bursaries and will look into charging the state schools at least a contribute cost towards the use of facilities such as the lovely brand new theatre which was paid for out of an alumni bequest and is not quite finished.

That is really sad as I went to that GDST school and adored the prep school and its beautiful site. I think that they have been pushed quite a bit over the years as the local catchment was children of doctors/lawyers/lecturers etc and IBMers most have seen the buying power of their salaries diminish over the years anyway.

ds’ is the only private school in 100 miles which was still a charity so it isn’t required.

@strawberrybubblegum I thought it was more that charity status couldn’t be revoked from on high rather than any school making a choice about the change?

GDST ( Girls Day School Trust) - 12% from Jan 2025. Confirmed today.

Same- letter made it sound like it applied to every GDST but not totally sure

@swi5 I think as it’s from the Chief Exec that’s all schools. Was hoping for less considering we have just had fee rise for new school year next month. They have given until 8th Sept to give notice. I wonder how many leavers this will trigger.

But how have they removed charitable status from your DS's school? Has it been turned into something different which isn't a charity? Who does it belong to now?