VAT on school fees - High Court Challenge.

[EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime]

Labour’s plan to impose VAT on private school fees in January faces a High Court legal challenge over claims it breaches human rights law.

Lawyers have written to HM Treasury arguing the policy discriminates against special needs children and has threatened court action if it is not dropped.

Showtime…

I disagree, and am happy to put my money where my mouth is.

I am not alone.

So you're taxing people based on a subjective value-judgement about their choices, rather than an objective measure like their income?

Edited: Actually, a subjective value-judgement about their 'privilege'. Rather than an objective measure like their income.

It's a dangerous path...

That isn't true. Privately funded pupils in independent SEN school have to pay tax unless that child has a ehvp.

There are parents who just pay the fees as they don't want to go through the sen tribunal process. Appeal currently takes a year. I you need to appeal to be assessed, to issue, for contents to name that school it can easily take 3 years plus

This is completely avoiding the issue!

I have multi millionaire neighbours who send their kids to state school - why shouldn't they pay extra tax?

I just don’t think people understand the time element - when you have a child struggling emotionally with school, it takes a while to work out what is wrong and how to solve the problem. A lot of these Sen kids coped with primary where they were in classes with kids they had known for years, had the same 1-2 teachers for each academic year and were in the same classrooms for this period too.
Suddenly after they start high school which is bigger / a lot of new social relationships / moving between rooms several times a day and more significantly seeing a different teacher every hour or two - that the child starts to struggle.
Most parents / schools at first think it’s just the change from primary to high school - and then it’s blamed on puberty. It’s only when a child gets really bad that neurodiversity is considered and then there is a waitlist of years for assessment. People talk about an ECHP - but (after speaking to an echp lawyer for a free consult) these are for really for the child to be a specific government school which physically will unlikely be able to address the small classes sizes a lot of Sen kids need due to their sensory overload issues. And an echp can take years.
So realistically, a year 7 child struggling will spend a year seeing if it’s just settling into high school / puberty. Then if in year 8 it’s agreed they might have neurodiversity they are waitlisted for 2-3 years for this assessment. And then if they are assessed in year 10/11 gcse years - and an echp takes 2 years - they’ll get one when they finish high school.
this is why parents opt to pay private if they can earlier in their child’s schooling

You won’t be met with kindly here- there’s a disgusting attitude of “so what” and “shut up” here on mumsnet about this issue but I for one think it’s a disgusting policy not designed to help anyone. Private schools should be looked at like private health insurance on the nhs- the pressure valve for the overstretched service. The blanket “eton” categorization of independent schools couldn’t be further from the truth, and if only those ideological zealots look beyond their hateful politics they’d see how its punitive to all

I’ve donated to this cause despite no skin in the game. I wish it every success.

Eh?
Nobody is being taxed on privilege itself, they're being taxed on the luxury goods which they had the choice to access as a result of their privilege.

I agree that the EHCP process is a mess. I just don't understand why all of the legal challenges wouldn't be focused on that rather than on VAT on private school fees.

All children with SEN need appropriate educational provision. Not just rich ones.

No, they're being taxed on the luxury service they chose. They have access to that choice because of privilege. 🫣

Do you think DLA is a little present given to parents of disabled people to be super generous and kind, or do you think it's because there are additional costs to having SEN kids, and the state makes a contribution to those?

It might help if you try to engage your brain before typing. Just a thought.

Please don’t drink from the socialist Kool-aid.

The broadest shoulders….implies you trust this government to be wise custodians of your largesse. This is a mistake. They are in hoc to the unions, and are economic pygmies. You will have an increased tax burden with worsening public services, and populist fiscal polices made on the hoof.

They are nothing short of a slow train crash.

....because they're not accessing the luxury service which is being taxed?
They will pay tax in other ways, but you already knew that.

This is the most insane post I’ve seen on the issue and clearly you re horribly uneducated about the issues surrounding SEN and difficulty gaining EHCPs and a deeply monstrous person to ridicule the plight of parents with children who have SEN and unable to find the appropriate school settings for them. Shame on you.

Thank you.

Pardon?
Are you still being ridiculously rude to anyone with a different view?
It's also a very dated and uninspired insult.

I disagree.

It's actually a very clever challenge because it puts a human face on the consequences of the issue in hand. It's much more compelling than if it came from a conglomerate legal action representing the actual schools themselves.

It seeks to demonstrate a clear legal link between proposed government policy and the impact on the individuals rights protected in law. This approach has been used to effectively challenge government policy in the past.

I think it's a much more effective move. Let's see what the court decides.

Of course you aren’t, that’s why it is called “crowd” funding! Lots of little sheep following each other and making lawyers richer to no purpose. As a lawyer, however, I salute you.

It's not unreasonable to assume that at least part of the DLA could go toward school costs.

This fills me with total dread and once again, grateful I’m the sort of tiger parent I am.

Thank you for this comprehensive insight.

But what about the kids who are stuck in that process who don't have parents that can just opt for private education?

Surely, if people are trying to make this into a human rights issue, it has to be about the human rights of all children and not just those of wealthy parents?

I'm familiar with the inadequacies in the system, but I want it fixed for all children and not just the privileged few.

No. It either is legally correct or it isn’t. Who brings the case will carry no weight at all in the mind of the judge.

We've seen plenty of the entitled human faces. 🫣

The justification is to fund state education- why should the wealthy using state education not pay for it through additional tax?

There is no other area in which we applaud and reward people for using a state funded benefit which they can afford not to use!

Because they already pay higher income tax??

I was one of those children. I never did get a diagnosis. I tried to take my own life at 16 and I still didn’t get a diagnosis. My own brother has victim blamed me for my experience at secondary school. He is a secondary school teacher himself and a head of year. There are so many people on this thread that have no idea how a large comprehensive school can be torture for some children. I’m going to have to leave this thread because I actually can’t take any more.