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

I’ve got a couple of friends who teach in the private sector, both get staff discount for their children. One stays at the school purely for the discount and will likely leave when her children do. The other is there because he couldn’t get a job in state schools and couldn’t get past the interview. He taught a maternity history cover at my school, but wasn’t kept on at the end of the year and they employed someone else instead. He now teaches English and history at a private school and enjoys it along with the discount.

More private school VAT histrionics but…

Presumably the whole reason for parents to send their children to private/independent school is the quality of teaching. If the private school teachers all get scapegoated to save money for parents then eventually the quality of teaching between private and state will even out as there will be no particular incentive other than the climate at any particular school.

Reading that back actually it’s a brilliant idea 😂 Even the playing fields.

OP how can you not see that this is an excellent retention offer for excellent teachers? You keep them in the same school for a minimum of five, seven or even more if they have multiple children. A great way of keeping a strong staff base.

In fact this is such a batshit question that I am tempted believe it isnt from a private school parent at all. Instead it’s from a malicious non private school parent who wants to stoke up a negative stereotype.

Whichever of the two you are you aren’t a nice person OP.

I’m now convinced this can’t be real. Someone is just having a bit of a slow Tuesday evening.

Airlines are not under an imposing new government policy a new law on VAT. Affecting families throughout the country.

Op will be back in a few months complaining bitterly about how there’s no staff to teach her precious offspring as they’ve all left
You sound utterly batshit

So what you're saying is teachers should teach your children for a salary on which they could never afford to send their own kids to the school. Dh and I both teach in private schools. Even with both of us working full time and even with the staff discount we can't afford to put both Dc through either of our schools. I know other teachers who do it, usually for one DC, or with a spouse with a better paid job, or with some kind of inheritance.

I was wondering this too (as a parent with children at private schools). I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain about the staff discount

OP: X is outrageous (because it affects me), we MUST start a petition!

4 pages later when not a single person has even remotely agreed with her...

OP: Outrageous I say, I demand Y! We simply MUST...etc etc.

They already are taxed.

Private schools shouldn’t be VAT exempt. This policy will probably be of little benefit though. But the hand-wringing and making out like it is the greatest injustice of modern times from parents that will almost certainly just pay the extra 20% anyway has probably made it worthwhile overall.

Parents can’t afford the fees due to the new VAT. School cannot afford to absorb cost because they’re too busy absorbing the staff discounts with family fees.

How can you not see no one cares about great staff, staff retention at a school they can no longer afford to attend!

I personally find it shocking. I’d much rather the families stay than the staff who are subsidised. Unless they’re willing to pay the same fee. It’s just not acceptable.

1. They are private businesses so your petition will have no impact.

1. It's part of the benefits of the job, so if you remove it there will be more difficulty recruiting or the salaries will need to increase which will be paid for by you.

1. Get a grip on yourself.

But then you don’t have the staff…… 🤦‍♂️ are you even listening to yourself?

So where are the extra staff coming from op ? Teacher retention crisis,often lower salaries, private schools removing TPS and now no reduction on fees - good luck with that 👍🏻

The other really beneficial thing I have seen at dh's school where there is a bigger staff discount is how deeply personally invested the staff are who have Dc there. Not only do they know they need to do well and not piss off the smt, but also they have a heartfelt wish for the school to be a happy and productive place so that their dc benefit. They go over and above for all the kids and it gives the school a caring family feel

There are plenty of staff who don’t need any discount of school fee.

I dont disagree to a policy subsidising 20% but 50%+ under this new government is simply no longer feasible and must be amended.

No school policy is set in stone it’s open to change depending on circumstance.

Where are the ‘plenty of staff’ ??? You’re talking utter nonsense

If paid same price as state school, where is the "profit" going. If not to pay teachers?

Ha ha. Good luck recruiting.

My DC go to private school and I'm so embarrassed by these threads. I'm also embarrassed by the chat in the school WhatsApp groups.

If course the teachers should retain the discounts. It's an incentive to attract the best teachers.

I'm all on board with the VAT increase too.

OP - if all the teachers kids leave your fees will go up not down. Why? Because 5 kids paying 50% of fees is more than 0 kids paying nothing. Most schools aren’t full!! Giving a discount to staff isn’t a cost as such - it’s a way of giving an incentive to staff without the school actually spending anything. You aren’t ‘subsidising’ these children, they are bringing additional income!! Your anger really should be directed at the government, you seem to have a very limited understanding and a nasty, jealous attitude. Teachers can’t afford to pay full school fees, and in boarding schools it can be impossible to do the school run to a different school for boarding house staff.

You're not going to win any popularity contests at your kid's school if you start ranting about campaigning for this.

That’s a very short term way of dealing with the fact YOU don’t want to pay 20% more (but are happy to ask teachers to pay 50+% more!!)

Have you thought about the effect of those teachers taking their child back to state? Because your fees are going to go up if there are less pupils but still as many teachers (esp secondary and 6th form).

Have you thought about the fact those teachers might decide to simply go somewhere else that will treat them better? Not worried because there are plenty of good teachers around? Think again. Seriously, I’ve found the calibre of state and private school teachers very different overall.

There is a reason why it was good for the school to encourage those children to come to the school. And it certainly wasn’t just ‘well we can make parents to pay for it so why not’

Yes everyone is talking about this.

its the #1 target set by parents for seeking efficiencies

If your children were on the cusp of having to leave their world, their school, their friends you’d do everything within your power to help them.