What changes will you need to make for the VAT increase?

[36plus3]

Because contrary to what a lot of Mumsnet think, we're not all "really rich". The kids are already on scholarships which helps a bit.

To be able to afford the VAT increase I am going to increase my working days from 4 to 5.

Anyone else having to make big changes to afford it?

DD leaving at end of year 11.

Oh yes that too!

Looking at state options. Filling in the form on Monday.

The clever ones on mumsnet know that many children at private schools are there through their family scraping and fee remissions. The envy and woe is me ones will never understand that- too complex!

Moving to state and retiring - can't bridge 20% gap anyway, has been working myself to complete burnout to pay fees and used to living extra frugally. Will continue lifestyle but enjoy freedom

We are looking at state schools. We will leave dc 1 in private until secondary level, which is the next sensible transition point.

There is a big age gap between dc. Dc2 will go into state from the off.

We will move to be on the catchment for our chosen schools. We have a fair idea where that is most likely and are looking already.

I will cut my hours significantly. Partly for more time at home, but Partly to facilitate lots more extracurricular activities.

That sounds lovely. You will have a much better quality of life by the sounds of it.

Plenty of people work 5 days and can’t afford private schools. It’s not a hardship to work full time with school aged children.

Selling up & moving into a considerably smaller house. We're still more fortunate than most. Would never put my daughter back in our local 'outstanding' state school, it was totally wrong environment for her, the small independent is worth every penny.

My cousin will be keeping his son at private till he finishes but plans to holiday in the UK for the next few years rather than going abroad for a big holiday.

My concern is that all these children moving from private to state school will increase the classroom sizes and the already stretched education system!

My DD is starting school in September and we will just be able to afford this (we do not have lavish lifestyles). No way could we afford this with 2 children.

👍

Working full time, and holidaying in the UK are not really examples of hardships that people need to suffer in order to be able to afford private education.

I'm not against private education - I was privately educated and we will probably send our DDs for secondary. But to start a thread about how you're not that well off, when you're not working full time and are still able to send more than one child to private school is a bit silly.

"The clever ones on mumsnet know that many children at private schools are there through their family scraping and fee remissions. The envy and woe is me ones will never understand that- too complex!"

Only 7 posts before the routine abuse of those of us who disagree with the concept of private education. Oh, and the routine redefinition of "scraping". Hey ho.

OP have you also thought about cancelling Netflix, making coffee at home instead of buying takeaway coffees, switch to the budget alternatives in your shopping basket and if all else fails take in some ironing

You do know it’s the school that is having to pay VAT? So they don’t have to pass that onto parents? They can simply do what state schools do and budget? Fees go up all the time and they just get paid?

If you’re school puts up fees 20% they are ripping you off. Go and have a think about how VAT works. If you charge output VAT you can also reclaim input VAT. They also shouldn’t need to charge VAT on every service they provide.

Meantime I just wanted to encourage all of you making the big changes that it’s worth it and do-able - you can nearly always find cuts when you have been well off before (eg only run one family car; reduce holidays and luxuries like professional haircuts; increase working hours).

And for those of you moving to state school - the rest of us cope fine with getting our kids to extra curricular activities, alongside full time careers. My teen dd has 4 activities a week I organise outside her school-based clubs, and my ds in Reception currently also has 4 but likely will increase to 7 or 8 next year. And we can afford nice cars, multiple streaming services, and several holidays a year, whilst building funds for car/house deposits and university. Occasionally I even splash out on a coffee at Starbucks!

The choice not to afford private school has its upside so don’t despair.

🤣
While you are all holidaying in the UK, please take some time to ask your PPCs what will happen with VAT on specialist school fees?
Most LEAs will use "wrong phase of the moon" to get out of placing a child in one.

@36plus3

Hardship?
Most people work full time and can't afford private education. Oh dear.

I love that the idea of working full time is a “hardship”.

This is incorrect. It’s the parents who have to pay the VAT if it’s introduced. If introduced, the schools are legally obliged to add VAT to their invoices. The school just accounts for it through VAT returns, taking account of input VAT. Private schools already pay input VAT. This policy is about output VAT. The only way that a school could mitigate the effect of the change would be to reduce their fees.

8m people work part time. On top of that, 1.5m are stay at home parents. The majority of those will be parents in the state sector given the relatively small number of people in private education.

And we can afford nice cars, multiple streaming services, and several holidays a year, whilst building funds for car/house deposits and university.

This is why the policy isn’t logical. Plenty of people in the private sector can’t afford those things and yet they’re the ones expected to pay even more tax to apparently fund state education they don’t use. The wealthy parents in the state sector going on multiple holidays, costing the taxpayer thousands a year for state education, won’t pay a penny more.

Please tell me when I've ever used the word "hardship". Oh no - I haven't.

Question for the parents really struggling to pay private school fee, forgoing and luxury and basically living poverty lives already. I'm guessing your children can see this and are living this with you. What do they think of this hardship to pay for their school? I read a newspaper piece years ago about a woman who sold her house to pay school fees. My takeaway from it was to feel really sorry for the kids. All that pressure, knowing your parents lived in poverty to pay for something, freely available on the state, so you could go to a particular school.
I could well afford private, my kids are at state though, they're fine.