Reduce or remove Staff discounts at Independent Schools.

[SchoolRunDays]

Historically staff at fee paying independent schools have received significant discounts on fees for their own children (I’ve heard ranging from 10% discount up to 85%)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/26/private-schools-make-cuts-state-teachers-vat-raid-reeves/

At the independent school my daughter attends the discount for staff is 50% of the fee so if monthly fee is £2000 staff will pay £1000 if academic year costs £24000 staff will pay £12,000.

No parents ever raised an eyebrow it was never questioned until now.

The Labour introduction of 20% VAT sending panic through communities.

School have informed they cannot “absorb” this cost. Question parents are asking is “why not?” Where’s all the money going.

counting heads and realising just how many staff children are holding places (right throughout the school). Many families with multiple in attendance. Doing the math each child representing a potential 50% loss of revenue. Each child costing the school £12,000 pear year!

Are we really living in a time where there are no other staff available that we have to incentivise positions!?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13660725/amp/Education-Secretary-Bridget-Phillipson-parents-warning-Labours-VAT-raid-private-school-fees.html

Rather than full-fee-paying families having to leave school the staff discount needs to be reduced, removed or abolished.

Independent families under a Labour government simply cannot afford such extravagant discounts.

Staff at private schools do not need to send their children to their place of work. It’s a want not a need.

#VATonfees #PrivateSchoolTax #Labour

If they want to they should understand the unprecedented current political situation and accept new contracts with revised/removed discount on fees.

They can choose to stay and pay more online with parents suffering the 20% VAT or remove their children and free up spaces so the school can generate a full revenue per place.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/labour-private-school-fees-vat-tax-when-b2583658.htmlLabour Tax

BEFORE you remove your children from independent school. Fight for them*

Labour have made it clear school must make cuts that there’s no reason for annual price hikes, no reason to pass on the VAT to parents.

No reason bar the fact they are losing hundreds of thousands of pounds offering all-staff outrageous fee discounts.

Bursaries and scholarships are earned under strict admission criteria and few and far between. Take a moment to count heads of staff kids within your school. It’s a very different situation. If they want the privilege of discount their children should apply and be tested like everyone else.

Who to complain to?

Not the school the teachers, the headteachers the finance department the very people in charge of your payments all have a conflict of interest.

If their children are in school and they’re receiving a 50% discount do you believe they will help you to remove it? No They’re protecting themselves and the school(staff) families best interests.

School parents must petition via governors, lawyers and the media to expose what is going on.

#RemoveStaffDiscount #ProtectMyOwn #NewSchoolPolicy #EqualityInFees #LabourVAT

Parents don’t need to take their children out of independent education because of the VAT. Schools need to reduce or remove all unnecessary staff discounts and absorb the cost. Not pass it on to fee paying parents. Schools need to make internal tough decisions and efficiencies

No way, I do not begrudge the Teachers at my DCs Private school their discount.
This is nasty and small minded and is very similar to the jealousy that is so prevalent in the "ha ha Private school parents will have to send their posh kids to state" attitudes.
If you can't afford a 20% rise you were too close to the bone for Private anyway.

Private school staff are often not well paid. In any case, it's got absolutely nothing to do with you. If you feel that strongly about it, go and train as a teacher.

I sometimes get quite nostalgic for the days when people minded their own business, and live and let live was more of a thing.

I'm not a teacher.

Oh these threads'

It's boring. Pay the Vat or go to state school. It's really that simple.

Cue a mass exodus of staff - often it's the only reason people take the job, it's part of the pay package, removing it is tantamount to a pay cut, changing terms and conditions is something unions would be rather concerned about too.

My friend hates his job, is paid less than counterparts at state school with far more pressure, parents emailing at all hours and complaining that their kid underperforms despite the kid not trying ... he stays for the 50% off fees for his dc

I wonder if the OP would willing give up some of their pay or benefits to keep prices down for their employers customers / clients…?

Why should parents who have paid a full fee for years in many cases for multiple children be priced out of the market by the 20% additional VAT when the staff are being subsidised!

Why should their children be forced to leave when they’re contributing a full fee and causing no burden to the budget no deficit?

How is that acceptable given the new Labour government VAT policy?

And watch those same staff leave. Salaries are not high and often match state sector only, with staff working longer hours on evenings and weekends at independent schools.

Independent schools give these discounts for a reason and that reason is staff retention - they want to retain good staff and by discounting for staff children places they are able to do this.

(Google teacher recruitment crisis OP)

If you want your children to receive high-quality teaching you should be supporting staff and the pay package they receive not alienating them with this ridiculous petition.

When you reduce staff perks, staff leave and it’s harder to attract new ones. That’s pretty universal.

remove their children and free up spaces so the school can generate a full revenue per place

Other than for the very top schools I really doubt that will happen especially if other children are leaving. More likely they will be end up undersubscribed.

It's just part of their package thats all. Part of their salary.

The entitlement of you lot is raging out of control on here lately. Get offline and back in the real world.

But it’s a private business. They can offer discounts as they see fit. You as a customer can vote with your feet if you don’t like the terms.

Staff at private schools do not need to send their children to their place of work. It’s a want not a need.

Sending any child to independent school is a want not a need 🙄

Because without the incentive the staff will simply leave. There is a massive recruitment and retention crisis in schools, including independent schools. Living on site and / or your children attending the school is a massive reason for many staff staying. Remove that and they’ll leave. Simple really, amazed you can’t see that.

Why do we need staff retention at cost of losing our friends and fellow fee paying parents?

Academia is not short of teachers. If staff are not happy with revision or removal of this discount which is no longer viable, which is not efficient at-all! Independent schools can easily replace them with the pool of outstanding teachers happy to sign contract with a school policy which does not have outrageous staff-discounts.

Independent schools need to think fast, make savings, efficiencies and new policy, fast!

Not all of us thank you very much

how would you feel op, if your employer said, our clients don’t want to pay the higher prices demanded by new government regulations or supply chain cost increases, so we need to cut your salary? Would you take a significant pay cut and be happy to keep doing quality work?

that is precisely what you are asking. That it be legislated that teacher salaries be cut.

Tuition is a part of their compensation. They take the job knowing their children will benefit from a quality education.

Where are these outstanding teachers ready to work such long hours ?? I don’t know any.

Actually some of those Teachers ARE our friends and their children are friends with our children, are you one of those parents who doesn't like their children mixing with the children of people you consider not rich enough such as Teachers kids or Scholarship kids?

Staff at private schools do not need to send their children to their place of work. It’s a want not a need.

This is very true but not just for teachers benefiting from the discount. Don't want to or can't pay an increase then you don't get. After all, you did say it's a want not a need.

This has always been a perk of teaching at a private school, op. It has zero impact on the fees charged to everyone else 🤷🏻‍♀️

You do realise that staff in all kinds of employment scenarios enjoy staff discounts, don't you??

You do realise that some even enjoy discounts from other businesses, such as the blue light discount!

Presumably you want all those scrapped too?

If not, why not?

There's a well publicised recruitment crisis in teachjng at the moment. Look it up.

My employer doesn't need to give me 28 days holiday for long service (+ bank hols). They don't need to pay me more than minimum wage. But if they don't I'll walk.

This is absolutely batshit.

I could not disagree more. The staff are the schools most important asset IMO.

Yes they should get some perks and absolutely discounts on their children.

How petty can you get.