School fee VAT and the council, surely this can’t be happening?

[Sat100]

A close friend has told me that at their school, parents have had to move their child out due to being priced out and unfortunately there are no state school places available in the area. The council is now apparently paying the VAT on behalf of this family on account of the fact there is no space in the state sector within a certain mileage of their home. I am in disbelief…has anyone else heard of this happening?!

This is most likely to be the case where there is an EHCP. But yes, yet another own goal from Labour on this stupid VAT policy

Yes there are such cases documented however you will get some people on here denying the fact.
Councils are also paying taxis in many cases as no local provision available

Hey ho it's what was predicted but some denied would happen. That's why it is in court this week, all funded by taxpayer

It’s probably cheaper for the council than doing anything else.

@Breezybetty @twistyizzy @KatyaKat honestly I can’t believe how ridiculous it is! I was on the fence about the policy but after hearing this I can’t see it anything other than a spiteful attack. Absurd that the public are now funding this!

Well done Labour you complete imbeciles

Some of us were warning of this 18 months ago and were ridiculed, attacked etc yet 100% of what we said has happened.
Hope as a taxpayer you are happy to be funding the approx £1 million bill of paying for the 4 x KCs hired by the government to try and defend it in court?

I wonder if the council can claim the vat back (like a normal business) therefore the vat element is actually a zero cost to them?

The birth rate is falling rapidly. Any issues like this will disappear fast.

Not in secondary. Still bulge years until 2028/29 and taxpayer is footing the bill until then

@twistyizzy no I’m not happy about it at all!

hahahaha - yes of course this is happening, ive heard its happening where i am too - but im not surprised? Its a spectacular own goal by labour 😱 - so now, the taxpayer will be paying for some private school children, while their own kids go to over-subscribed states, all whilst voting for private school parents to pay VAT. Absolutely baffling and shocking at the same time - not sure if people should laugh or cry!

I think we’d need the full picture to comment TBH. If there’s an ECHP this is possible but it’s a drop in the ocean- remember that councils have been paying full fees of 70k plus per year (not just VAT) for thousands of children to go to private schools because there are no specialist state schools available (closed by successive Tory governments). The whole SEN sector is a complete mess.

Overall though even if this is true I’d imagine that receipts from VAT on private school fees are far more. Plus I’d imagine that it’s temporary and/ or an exception if there’s no EHCPs.

Did you support the policy? Or did you think it would just impact rich people ie bought into Labour propaganda so you never really looked into it?

Yes I have also heard this but I don’t know if it’s a myth or not. No first hand experience.

It isn't a myth

Yes, we continue to close LA schools ( 18 in the last 6 years, another two agreed this month, plus sixth form provision removed in another).

All additional pupils will be very welcome.

I can’t understand why this isn’t in the news though? That’s what makes me think maybe it’s not actually true

Because left wing news won't cover it and it is perceived as a 'marginal' issue so doesn't get much coverage.
Any time we try we get told to pipe down because it "only" impacts 7% of kids (550 000) so it simply doesn't matter

Council do provide places in fee paying schools for some kids with EHCP, it's not a new thing nor a Labour thing.

And if the Tories had invested in state education in the last 15 years and had funded SEN properly in the state sector, the above situation would not be happening. Nor would state education be in such a parlous state had they not utterly ruined it with their shit policies.

No I haven't heard of this happening. Which council is this where there are no state school places?

Left wing news? Almost the entire media is right wing, particularly the press! They don't cover it because most journalists are privileged nepo babies who wouldn't know an important issue for society if it came along and booted them up the arse.

Councils do this sort of thing all the time especially with hard to place children. It's a result of there not being any joined up thinking about budgets. There have been cases of them paying for families to move house out of borough as that was cheaper than supporting their complex needs. I have a friend who couldn't get a school place and the council is paying just over a 100k a year for a patchwork of tutors. Having first spent a few years refusing to countenance paying for private specialist provision then losing a couple of tribunals.

Not really. Why have BBC hardly reported on the VAT case being heard in courts this week?

So true. Temporary VAT or taxi’s is not a big deal given that we have children with EHCP’s without special school places who cost us £100,000 plus per child, per year for independent provision, plus the cost of transport.

Under the Conservative government, LA’s are unable to open new maintained schools, having to rely on academy trusts. System takes ages. Trusts are not interested in SEN schools.

There was an article about cost of a taxi for 1 child- paying the VAT only will be much cheaper for the LA than a taxi even 10 miles daily. £30,000 a year fees, would "only" be £6000 to the LA, less than the cost of a secondary mainstream school, never mind transport to somewhere if no place locally.