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

Is OP a troll or a nutcase? Why would you petition? An independent school is a business. They make an offer - you can accept it or go somewhere else if you don’t like it. If OP doesn’t like it he/she should just go elsewhere.
Maybe the local state school has a place or two for in year applicants.

I used to work for an airline, pay was shit,but flights were cheap

Same principle

Struggle to find teachers!!

Not a concern for the hundreds of families having to leave, to remove their children because all of the fees they pay are being spent providing outrageous staff discounts to staff. Who cares about subsidising great, brilliant staff at the expense of your own children.

Who are having to pack their bags move school. It’s just beyond a joke to think this is acceptable given the new government policy!

Families must protect their own children. Fight for them.

They can offer a discount to who they like. It’s a business.

This! Just accept you now have to pay VAT

I'm sure you're not being deliberately obtuse but the job title makes no difference. This discount forms part of their remuneration package in the same way that various discounts, medical insurance, life insurance, pension etc. does for other roles. If one of my benefits was removed and not replaced with something I felt was equivalent, I would walk. As would the 'head of financial departments'. The alternative then is to stump up cash or another benefit so you, as a customer, won't see any difference.
Pointless argument.

Quite....

I'm fairly sure:

🏃‍♂️
🦈

But what are you protecting your children from? My child? I know she looks scary but she's nice really.

I urge all parents to not go quietly.

Speak to the governor’s speak to the media and fight for your own families.

Remove or reduce the outrageous staff discount at Independent schools.

That is your efficiency and the “making cuts” Labour have warned independent schools to immediately make. Noting they were warned since 2021 and this VAT is imminent.

You go fight your one man battle. I doubt many will join you as we all truly appreciate the staff (and I am saying this as a parent who will be moving my children out of the private sector post VAT on fees because we cannot afford it)

Putting 'fact' at the end of a post doesn't make it one.

It is part of their package and up to each individual school to create their own benefits package to attract the best staff to teach, erm, your children. Given the long hours at private the alternative is pay them a lot more so their children can attend the school or they can afford childcare elsewhere. Same net effect.

Suck it up.
Love from another private school parent

Has the policy been brought in already? Honestly I have been flat out with work in the last few weeks but I must have missed this? to be fair, bar attending sports day and a meeting about the ski trip I haven't read any of the emails from school

I trust our school to make the right decisions for the business though. I also don't begrudge the scholarships or staff subsidies because I think it's good for my children to be surrounded by a more diverse intake

You want good teachers at private schools then you pay them what they’re worth. If part of that is discounted fees then so be it.
If you can’t afford to send your kids to private school because the incumbent government are trying to screw kids over yet again, then tough .

There has been huge food inflation. Are you going to demand that the staff discount be removed from M&S staff next time you are in a Food Hall?

There was a huge exodus of staff from a local private school when they stopped paying the pension contributions.

Completely bonkers.
Would you give up part of an excessive salary, company car, health insurance, pension, free gym membership or whatever other benefits you get from your work? Many people would think those things are outrageous too and grossly unfair.

I believe they won’t remove this discount but I also believe they will reduce it.

Parents petition the independent schools to gain control of your money for your children and their future.

if it’s at 50% fight to reduce it to 25% What do you have to lose?

The goodwill of staff?

Don't take it out on the teachers.

It’s hard enough to retain staff in independent schools as it is. In boarding schools many work longer than usual hours and weekends too. From an admissions POV remissions for children of staff are down because even at 40-50%+ they’re too high for a the average person to pay. Most staff at independent schools aren’t teachers anyway, they’re cleaners and administrators and chefs and maintenance teams. What I’d like to know is how do you add tax to means tested bursaries?

Are we allowed to worry about the children of staff who would then be packing their bags, or only about your children?

And what is this policy actually going to achieve? The kids that then have to go to state school, the government have to pay £6k a year for everyone of them. How may kids will that be?
1/5th of kids leave, that’ll be an extra £600m they have to find. Not sure how they’ll then pay for the extra staff…..

Not a concern for the many being priced out of the market.

Outside of MumsNet which is heavy teacher driven talk is “it’s them or us”

You won’t care about the goodwill of staff when you’re on the school run to your kids new life.

Many teachers at private schools don't enjoy the perks of the teachers pension scheme. If you wish to hang onto good staff, they should benefit from the discount.

Nobody tell her about the free flights you get if you work for an airline...