Private School VAT Backtrack?

[SofaThrow]

There seem to be rumours swirling that Starmer has decided not to bring in the VAT on private schools until possibly 2025/6. After being very clear last year that there would be no phase in and that they would bring it in immediately.
Nothing is as yet confirmed I don't think.

It’s not just parents of privately educated children though. Grandparents of those children are also unlikely to favour this policy, plus wider family such as uncles/aunts etc. Our children have 2 parents and 4 grandparents who are against this policy. That’s 6 voters.

That is absurd. Given this has been on the Labour ticket for some time I think anyone with strong feelings will have already decided not to vote Labour.

Also, many posters do not understand straightaway in political terms. As has been clarified above by more than one poster, this policy would be instituted in the Finance Act in 2025. Doing the maths, and assuming the bill is ready in around February, that is definitely sufficient time. Governments can do something far more complicated within a lesser period- a motivated government could go faster.

Or maybe a good old use of Rayner to play the Prescott function. You see a division where perhaps there is a strategic intent.

I don't think it's a given that it would be in the 2025 Finance Act. They haven't explained exactly what they intend to do yet and simply changing the VAT notice wouldn't require primary legislation.

I would definitely make primary changes given the legal issues. Safer

I agree with a delay. I think the fairest policy is to introduce it for children in the private sector prospectively, rather than retrospectively. So it would apply for new pupils going forward, rather than those already in private schools.

All children should have educational stability so far as possible (of course, in some cases, this is not possible). Parents should be able to plan with reasonable certainty for their children's education, private or state. If parents decide on the basis of the VAT changes that they cannot afford private education, then they should have an equal chance along with all other parents in their local area to apply for state school places at their preferred state option.

Everyone on MN thinks those at private school are all loaded poshos… it’s not the case and absolutely infuriates me.
I live on a fairly average road in London and whilst many kids attend a local state school there are a few who scrape by/borrow so that they can send their kids to private school because they were allocated the very rough Ofsted inadequate school nearby.

No, this has exposed the massive division within the Labour Party all along that dates back at least a decade or two as you well know, and may well cost them the election.

10/10 to Rayner for her timing and execution, maybe she is going to be a leader after all. Cut throat stuff.

No, really? Wow thanks for telling me. The two areas I checked are two very different areas so a fair sample. I haven't yet found any schools cheaper than yours so I'm not convinced yours is average. You're taking a lot of effort to try and prove your school is average.

I'm not convinced uncles and aunts will change their voting plan because they may have a niece or nephew in a private school.

I am pretty sure teachers and staff will not vote for the loss of their jobs…

Plenty of jobs for teachers out there. And of course not all private schools pay teachers even as much as state schools so they may prefer a change.

Lots of wider family are interested in children’s education though. My point is that it’s not just parents who are against the policy.

It would be quite odd if a family member having to pay more on their school fees had a bigger impact than so many other factors in the running.

Less odd than voting for a policy attacking private education when you have no experience of it and the policy won’t make a difference to your life.

Teachers who have worked in independent schools will not be rushing to teach in the state sector - many left the state sector for better working conditions in indie schools. They will quite probably leave teaching altogether which will be a huge loss.

Plenty of grandparents are paying school fees up and down the country - this will impact them.

This.

There are also a lot of people out there who don't send their kids to private school who would do if they could afford it.

And they see this as an attack on aspiration, an attack on their choice to be able to choose the best for their kids and use their money to fund their kids as they see fit and not to be penalised by the government for doing so, even if they may not be directly affected by it now.

Because a policy like this is just one part of a greater ideology, that all people should be treated exactly the same. Which is fundamentally flawed. Because all people aren't the same. And all kids aren't the same either. And to me if parents want to invest their hard earned money and make sacrifices for their kids futures that should be something that is celebrated and not penalised.

This policy is just the start of where they want us to end up.

And they see this as an attack on aspiration, an attack on their choice to be able to choose the best for their kids and use their money to fund their kids as they see fit and not to be penalised by the government for doing so, even if they may not be directly affected by it now

Yes and the VAT issue will mean that only the really wealthy will be able to choose private education in the future and the gap between the haves and the have nots will widen even further.

And you can kiss goodbye to funded places, bursaries, use of facilities etc as I can’t think there will be the stomach for that in the school community, having lost pupils to this nasty vendetta.

It will serve to increase the divide for sure.

I’m trying to think of any successful country that have policies like labour - and all I can come up with North Korea.

Well they will have to do something charitable to maintain a charitable status

There is no point to having a charitable status without the tax breaks! Maybe they will continue a harvest festival for the elderly perhaps.

Well at least we have the absolutely paranoid “tax on aspiration” line.

i would say at this stage the loss of voters which is apparently a million unevenly distributed is probably baked in; particularly as this policy still seems to be alive and kicking.

It’s going to be much more than a million. You get to that number with parents alone. Are you sure that other voters feel comfortable their nursery places will be exempt ( they are not) or their teens uni places (they are not) or that pensioners have missed the fact labour intend to raid pensions, or environmentalists have missed the ‘big plan’ to build all over the green belt. It’s not just PS parents looking over this shit show and thinking we might actually be better off with what we know, especially in such uncertain times.