Election - how soon for VAT on school fees?

[Labtastic]

So I see we're likely to have an election in early July. Obviously that spells the end of the godawful tories which is great, but also hastens the incoming VAT on school fees which, for us, is bad. We are one of those families that no one believes exists who stretch ourselves with school fees, and are going to be very pushed for an extra 20%.

Question is - do we think Labour can make this happen in time for September? It'll be our DC's last year of fee paid education and was hoping the timeline for VAT coming in would be stretched out a bit...

Absolutely not - I was vehemently against brexit in fact! Sorry if that doesn't fit your narrative.

f it happens, and it may well not happen, I don't think it will have a large scale impact.

It will certainly not impact the majority, but I’m happy to be proved wrong.

@BritainDoesNotAppearToHaveTalent well I’m not an expert but some have already increased their fees and looking at efficiency savings and alternative income sources

Stop panicking!

You've no idea who will win or if the Tories wont take this policy and rename it for themselves, as they done with the Nom Dom policy, which was supposed to have seen the UK sink into the mid atlantic.

I'm sure schools will have to have slightly larger classes to limit the fee increase.

The Tories have broke the country, so unfortunately, taxes will rise whoever wins and people, like the better off but impacted, will moan.

Absolutely not - I was vehemently against brexit in fact! Sorry if that doesn't fit your narrative.

What narrative? I’m not even sure what you are arguing about? Are you saying this isn’t about the optics of labour? Did you really not understand my point? 😆

This policy won’t help the vulnerable people though.

If they pay more in taxes than the average person then they are fortunate to be in a position to do that.

There are people who have died as a direct result of Tory legislation brought in within the last 14 years. During the first coalition term, the very richest in society quadrupled their wealth.

I know who my sympathy is for and it’s not for the people that earn so much they will never understand what it’s like to have to truly struggle.

I would introduce lottery allocation for schools and no sibling policies to be fair to all

so my eldest might be allocated a school 5 miles away on the other side of the city rather than the local school within walking distance? What a way to increase congestion on the roads and pollution!

And then my second child is allocated a school in the opposite direction but both need to be dropped off for 9am? How would that work?

Schools would also lose their connection with the local community

What are you talking about? This government has demonised and cut money from disabled people. Making VAT payable on school fees is a far more ethical way to get revenue. Nobody has have their child in private school. It’s a choice. Unlike being disabled!

Your narrative of what you think private school parents are like. And actually I would agree that this is like brexit - it promises to bring in more money to the state sector but clearly it'll fail to deliver.

As to what I'm arguing- I've made it clear - I do not believe it'll generate more money overall.

Exactly what I came here to say, it’s easy to point fingers and pass moral judgement, sitting in your £1m+ house in a nice leafy catchment.
Tell the parents who can’t afford these exorbitant house prices and send their kids to the Special Measures state schools, where safeguarding is a key concern, how rich and wonderful your state school is, see what they say.
It’s mind boggling the narrow mindedness of some people really.

I think State school should be made fairer at the same time- no religious state school, no grammars and not selective state school. These parents are worse in my opinion. Private school parents pay for privilege. State school parents with grammars, religious schools and state selection are getting everyone to pay for their privileges.

You honestly don’t believe you are going to see that ‘extra’ money do you?

So your logic is - ‘The government cut my disability money so I want to pull kids out of private school’

Yeah great logic …

I’m not against private schools- I think they should pay tax- keep up.

100%- well put!

The people in private school now aren’t poor.
The point is something is priced and some can afford it some can’t- that’s life. I just think private schools should have vat on their fees.

They do pay tax. They pay input VAT which they cannot reclaim (unlike state schools). I think what you’re trying to say is that they, and the parents, should pay even MORE tax.

Our school has just put up fees due to increased running costs etc. This has put our bill up by an extra £400pcm.

We don't have an extra 400 a month.

We don't go on holiday, our cars are over 10 years old and I can't remember the last time I had a hair cut or did anything for myself - I'm not complaining, that's how we have chosen to live. These are the things we don't do to pay for fees, there are many like us......I'm picking up extra work to try to cover this but another increase (VAT) will price us out. My husband already works two jobs. We manage now but we are at a tipping point already. I'm not after a pity party, I just want to reflect the position we are in.

The cars in our school carpark aren't big, shiny 4x4s.

I agree, the ultra-wealthy won't notice a price increase. The big well-known schools won't see a change.

Those, like us, who have chosen to spend money on education vs other things - new clothes, days out etc will be priced out. I agree we have chosen this path but we were able to afford it, just. This move will force us out and put our children into state education in an area that's oversubscribed so where will they go?

I disagree with those saying if you can afford it now, you can afford a % more. When you are stretching to find the pennies to pay the fees, it's no different to now having to re-mortgage at a different rate. You budget accordingly when you have fixed outgoings.

I sincerely hope the policy is robusty stress-tested to understand how the VAT will affect numbers. I understand this has been done previously but it needs to be done again to reflect the current status.

It will have to go through house of commons and house of lords, probably back and fore. And it's unlikely to be a first objective. So sometime between a few years and never.

Such a naive and narrow viewpoint.

I don’t think private school places should be taxed, unless you can reclaim a rebate on the tax that would have been spent on their child’s mainstream education.

Totally disagree with this policy & am honestly disgusted to see all the gleeful comments on here about it - at the end is the day it will be innocent children missing out here. Having to move schools, have their education disrupted & leave all their friends because their parents can’t afford it anymore.

How are the state schools going to cope when with the influx of children ? Our local state school benefits hugely from being able to use the private school’s facilities for free.

Except it’ll fiscally cost more that it’ll gain, a poorly thought out policy.

Answering the OP Sept 2025.

Maybe children on bursaries could be exempt? Or at least those currently on bursaries.

To you maybe. I could argue the same about your viewpoint.