@tortoise18 - of course the elite private schools are going ahead with expensive capex projects, they will now be able to claim the full 20 per cent VAT back on those. They are incentivised to spend more on facilities now but less on staff. They can also claim back any past capex VAT for projects above 250k - I think it was going back 10 years. They are likely to cut bursaries and staffing costs in the future, but go all out on facilities in the future as a direct result of this policy.
Not sure why the Times thinks this is a newsworthy story. Perhaps they should have explained the VAT implication of capex slightly getter. Because it’s the taxpayer who will be paying for it and the accounts of private schools are readily available online for all to see. So when the pittance paid in VAT by the most elite private schools becomes apparent, who will be frothing the most?
It is what happens with true luxury products & services too- the harder to access, the more elite/sought after it becomes by a select few. They will also likely up rents to outside users for those same facilities. To some extent they have to anyway because of how the legislation is drafted. The intention was probably to stop them running profitable holiday clubs etc to make up for the VAT but it just passes the cost on to more normal families using these schools, including council organised county youth orchestras. Making those also less accessible to poorer kids because there isn’t enough funding for bursaries for all.
Labour has essentially decided to treat all independent schools like a Rolex when in reality many are just a supermarket own brand basic watch teaching some children to tell the time. The direct result is that less children will learn to tell the time well as many can no longer afford the cheap supermarket version, but the Rolex version just became more sought after with even longer waiting lists. Not least because the top now get to mingle amongst their own almost entirely.