Thread 2: VAT on school Fees- High court challenge

[EHCPerhaps]

Following on from thread 1
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/education/5160565-vat-on-school-fees-high-court-challenge

Background to legal challenge (not yet a case):
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13824931/amp/Single-mother-autistic-child-launches-High-Court-challenge-Labours-private-schools-VAT-raid-claiming-violates-daughters-right-education.html

Sorry to begin a new thread, OP, but your thread filled up very quickly!

June 2025.

@Quodraceratops The numbers won't change that quickly. It will take 5 years to see the impact. Parents with children in the middle of their GCSEs or A-levels won't pull them out until they have finished. Most parents can dip into their savings for one year and two terms even if they can't do it forever. Children can't really change schools easily either because different schools do different GCSE and A-level specifications.
Some parents just won't start private school or they may only pay for a shorter time than before e.g. Year 9-11 when they would have previously paid Year 7-11.

6,500 new state school teachers are coming,
people…

@EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime
6500 teachers is a third of a teacher per school so wont be noticeable. If many children from private school move to state, there will be even less money raised by the VAT rise as each child educated in a state school costs £7500 roughly so the more children that move across, the less money there is. If more SEN children at private schools move to state and require more support, this will cost even more.
The ISC is bringing legal action against the government and I hope they win. It is not a good policy as it won't raise much money and it will disrupt many children's education.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98d3xr0290o.amp

Yes, my post was tongue in cheek.

Labours promises are worthless.

There’s a thing in the Times which says that parents who paid the fees before July may still have HMRC coming after them: Parents who paid private school fees early risk new tax raid

www.thetimes.com/article/e78e8a4b-eb95-4554-8f06-d92261406d19?shareToken=637937033bbd879194321cca1bc6afbd

Ha ha!! They will arrive in 2028 in time for elections lol! The current govt are such silly billies

I read somewhere the govt expects 3-4% move, well so far it’s been 14% change so well above their expectations and of course they don’t have the spaces. I think it will not take 5 years for the effects to take hold, more like 6-12 months

They won’t be teachers, they’ll be diversity officers,

That is hilarious, the quality of education will sink to the floor in that case. A good teacher is worth their weight in gold

14% where are we getting that number from?

It was cited on a Facebook group from findings they had found

If that’s true then Labour has lied as they stated it’s an economically driven policy not an ideological one.

Phillipson would have to resign and it would leave a few others including Reeves in precarious positions as they will have been seen to have openly lied to the electorate.

Around 14,000 call in sick each day so it won’t even cover half of them!

Yes, its the usual Labour bullshit.

And now they are trying to social engineer state schools so they are all ‘equal’.

Only five years ago the Labour Party voted to abolish private schools altogether.

It is quite possible - or possibly quite likely - that the rationale behind the VAT and business rates policy is to make independent schools even more elitist/available only to the wealthiest.

This isn't a bug it’s a feature.

So once the middle classes and everyone scrimping to pay the fees have been driven from them, Labour can issue a rallying call to shut them completely as ultra-privileged anachronisms which must inevitably be brought down.

And rather than holding Labour to account to make material, meaningful improvements to state education, their salivating supporters will continue to seal clap them on.

Gosh, I remember the threads about the plan to close all private schools. The people who were in favour of it were pretty vague on how it would physically be done.

I don't think having openly lied to the electorate is a deal breaker for a politician these days.

One might even say it's a feature not a bug.

Labour should be giving all children in the private sector with SEND a voucher to the tune of at least the average state school spend and not the opposite! I hope they have carefully considered the legal risk of this being a possible outcome of the legal challenge. That they will actually be asked to pay up!

He'll only succeed in making the gap between private and state wider.

I would be happy to contribute financially towards any legal challenge.

On the imposition of VAT, we cut a bursary donation - I would happily deploy those funds.

So once the middle classes and everyone scrimping to pay the fees have been driven from them, Labour can issue a rallying call to shut them completely as ultra-privileged anachronisms which must inevitably be brought down.

That’s a good point.

This is likely to be the deliberate plan - drive the middle classes from independent schools and those who scrimp to send their kids there.
Then, once the schools are left only with the wealthiest parents, they have the perfect excuse to say they must be shut down as bastions of elite privilege.

This is exactly what the Labour Party voted as their policy in 2019.

God those last posts are depressing but you both have a point.

He'll keep driving people downwards until we can't compete at all globally

I think if the fees were doubled then more people will of course leave. I think those that can afford the increase will continue on as it is for a period of years not the average length of a mortgage.