Looming Crisis: Private Schools Face Closures Amid VAT Hike

[richard_smith237]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Well you can always pass time imagining such stuff.

 

Of course, my comments were 'pie in the sky'...  

 

However, who would have imagined 10 years ago that Private Schools would be targeted to fill a short fall ?

My 'what next?' is not such a huge leap of the imagination. 

 

 

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

7 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Perhaps the increase of £1Billion on SEND education will factor in the decisions parents make.

 

perhaps too, had funding been maintained since 2010, parents would have had to take their children out of the state schools in the first place.

When will all this be in place for the SEND children? If not immediate then what happens those that have no suitable place now because of Labours new policy?

[The Cyclist]

16 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

perhaps too, had funding been maintained since 2010, parents would have had to take their children out of the state schools in the first place.

 

If you want to be a complete wazzock, Perhaps  if the financial crash of 2008 had not happened, funding might have been maintained since 2010.

 

Or did you forget about that.

[The Cyclist]

9 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

When will all this be in place for the SEND children?

 

By next week after the Christmas holidays 😀😀

 

We have a Party of Messiahs in power, dontcha know.

[Chomper Higgot]

17 minutes ago, The Cyclist said:

 

The term increased funding for State Schools.

 

It increased funding for a minority of pupils and for teachers pay rises.

 

This is not funding for State Schools. This is funding for 2 aspects of State education.

 

I am not surprised that you cannot understand the difference. Actually, scrap that. I'm not.

Oh

[Chomper Higgot]

6 minutes ago, The Cyclist said:

 

If you want to be a complete wazzock, Perhaps  if the financial crash of 2008 had not happened, funding might have been maintained since 2010.

 

Or did you forget about that.

Back to the personal attacks I see.

 

 

[scottiejohn]

29 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Labour keeping manifesto promises.

555!

[Bkk Brian]

VAT on schools is not a tax, but an act of class warfare

And it’s far from clear that it’s legal, too

According to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the extra levy will raise £1.7 billion annually, allowing more to be spent on state schools, and improving education for the majority of children in the state sector. And yet, Reeves’s logic and her mathematics are both in error.
No proper account has been made for the parents who will have no choice but to move their children – increasing the burden on the state sector – or for the schools that will inevitably close, with the loss of jobs that will entail.
In reality, the Chancellor has no idea how much money will be raised, and has made no detailed assessment. As with her extra levies on farmers, this may raise nothing at all. The claim that the school system will be “improved” by imposing a tax on a significant part of it, and one that may not in fact collect any extra money for the Exchequer, is implausible at best. 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/29/vat-on-schools-not-tax-but-class-warfare/

https://archive.ph/wRKW0

[jayboy]

3 hours ago, RayC said:

As I said elsewhere, the effects of this change are unknown and estimates - whether low or high - rest on even more tenuous than usual.

 

We may not know  precisely but it's already clear the receipts -never that significant in the scheme of things - will be much less than the figures bandied around.It was never the prime motive anyway,Meanwhile the dullard Education Secretary is intent on rolling back the reforms which have seen English state schools shoot up the global league tables over the past 15 years.

 

 

[vinny41]

Any extra money for SEND has already been spent

2. £1bn for SEND, but most will cover deficits

Of the £2.3 billion schools funding increase, £1 billion is for SEND and alternative provision. The Treasury said this was a 6 per cent real-terms increase.

Councils will have “discretion” on how they will spend the additional cash, but the Treasury predicts “it is very likely that they will use the funding to reduce their in-year deficit”.

The documents suggest it would clear £865 million from SEND deficits in 2025-26.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/budget-2024-most-of-1bn-send-injection-will-plug-deficits/

1. Four in 10 councils face bankruptcy over £4.9bn ticking timebomb deficit

NAO said four in 10 councils may be at risk of declaring effective bankruptcy if an accountancy immunity – known as a statutory override – ends in March 2026. 

Since 2020, councils have been allowed to keep high needs deficits off their books. This was due to end in 2024, but was extended until 2026 because 10 councils would have effectively gone bankrupt overnight if they had to move their deficits back onto their balance sheets.

The cumulative deficit could be up to £4.9 billion when the override ends, DfE believes. 

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/send-in-crisis-naos-8-damning-findings/

£1billion Government SEND funding 'not enough' to help the 1,800 children missing school in Surrey

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/1billion-government-send-funding-not-30310006

Surrey County Council paid out £500,000 last year for repeatedly failing children and families

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-county-council-paid-out-29273263

Surrey runs out of space for private school children

Local council has no vacancies for pupils in Year 9, 10 or 11 under Labour’s VAT raid

Forecasts show there are expected to be no vacancies for pupils in Year 9, 10 or 11 next September despite the Government’s own data suggesting 2,400 children in Surrey need spaces in state school as a result of its 20pc levy.

If the nearest available school is more than three miles away, the council must provide free transport to those who apply. If there is no public transport in place, they may have to pay for taxis to take children to school.

There are concerns that Labour’s VAT raid could result in councils racking up big bills for private school pupils to be taxied to school because of a lack of spaces in nearby state schools.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/surrey-runs-out-space-private-school-children-forced-out/

It looks like Surrey will be paying out more in fines in 2025

[The Cyclist]

4 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Back to the personal attacks I see.

 

 

 

You think this is a personal attack ?

 

Quote

 

If you want to be a complete wazzock, Perhaps  if the financial crash of 2008 had not happened, funding might have been maintained since 2010.

 

Or did you forget about that.

 

The thread is called " Looming crisis in Private schools " Due to the VAT increase imposed by Labour.

 

It is not about 14 years of Tory cuts

 

Nor about 2010 funding

 

Or anything to do with the Tories.

 

And every time you bring up something to do with Tories, it makes you a complete wazzock, because all you are doing is trying to deflect, obfuscate and deny.
 

And if you think that is a personal attack, You are Owen Jones and I claim my £5.

 

[Chomper Higgot]

20 minutes ago, The Cyclist said:

 

You think this is a personal attack ?

 

 

The thread is called " Looming crisis in Private schools " Due to the VAT increase imposed by Labour.

 

It is not about 14 years of Tory cuts

 

Nor about 2010 funding

 

Or anything to do with the Tories.

 

And every time you bring up something to do with Tories, it makes you a complete wazzock, because all you are doing is trying to deflect, obfuscate and deny.
 

And if you think that is a personal attack, You are Owen Jones and I claim my £5.

 

Ah, yet another personal attack.

[Chomper Higgot]

3 hours ago, vinny41 said:

Any extra money for SEND has already been spent

2. £1bn for SEND, but most will cover deficits

Of the £2.3 billion schools funding increase, £1 billion is for SEND and alternative provision. The Treasury said this was a 6 per cent real-terms increase.

Councils will have “discretion” on how they will spend the additional cash, but the Treasury predicts “it is very likely that they will use the funding to reduce their in-year deficit”.

The documents suggest it would clear £865 million from SEND deficits in 2025-26.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/budget-2024-most-of-1bn-send-injection-will-plug-deficits/

1. Four in 10 councils face bankruptcy over £4.9bn ticking timebomb deficit

NAO said four in 10 councils may be at risk of declaring effective bankruptcy if an accountancy immunity – known as a statutory override – ends in March 2026. 

Since 2020, councils have been allowed to keep high needs deficits off their books. This was due to end in 2024, but was extended until 2026 because 10 councils would have effectively gone bankrupt overnight if they had to move their deficits back onto their balance sheets.

The cumulative deficit could be up to £4.9 billion when the override ends, DfE believes. 

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/send-in-crisis-naos-8-damning-findings/

£1billion Government SEND funding 'not enough' to help the 1,800 children missing school in Surrey

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/1billion-government-send-funding-not-30310006

Surrey County Council paid out £500,000 last year for repeatedly failing children and families

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-county-council-paid-out-29273263

Surrey runs out of space for private school children

Local council has no vacancies for pupils in Year 9, 10 or 11 under Labour’s VAT raid

Forecasts show there are expected to be no vacancies for pupils in Year 9, 10 or 11 next September despite the Government’s own data suggesting 2,400 children in Surrey need spaces in state school as a result of its 20pc levy.

If the nearest available school is more than three miles away, the council must provide free transport to those who apply. If there is no public transport in place, they may have to pay for taxis to take children to school.

There are concerns that Labour’s VAT raid could result in councils racking up big bills for private school pupils to be taxied to school because of a lack of spaces in nearby state schools.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/surrey-runs-out-space-private-school-children-forced-out/

It looks like Surrey will be paying out more in fines in 2025

Begs the question, why these council deficits exist.

[The Cyclist]

5 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Ah, yet another personal attack.

 

Hiya Owen, sucks to be you.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, The Cyclist said:

 

Hiya Owen, sucks to be you.

What I find amusing is, unless you and your children attended/attend private schools, then you are defending a system the gives those that have/do an advantage over you and your children.

 

The majority of the general public understand this, hence the majority of public support for Labour’s policy on the matter.

 

Refer link I provided above and Labour’s manifesto.

 

 

[scottiejohn]

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

unless you and your children attended/attend private schools, then you are defending a system the gives those that have/do an advantage over you and your children.

And what is wrong with giving your children an advantage in any aspect of their upbringing?

[The Cyclist]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

What I find amusing is, unless you and your children attended/attend private schools, then you are defending a system the gives those that have/do an advantage over you and your children.

 

I'm very much pro choice, not dumbing down to the lowest common denominator.

 

Which is a Socialist construct.

[scottiejohn]

10 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Refer link I provided above and Labour’s manifesto.

A totally pointless document given their totally less than stellar performance, since duping the public, on their way to their cack handed power grab!

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, scottiejohn said:

A totally pointless document given their totally less than stellar performance since coning their way to power!

Hardly pointless, it’s what they won an election on.

 

Further more, you are participating in’s discussion on one the commitments within the manifesto.

 

Did you think that through?

[scottiejohn]

Just now, Chomper Higgot said:

Hardly pointless, it’s what they won an election on.

 

Further more, you are participating in’s discussion on one the commitments within the manifesto.

 

Did you think that through?

Their manifesto was a tissue of lies as was their pre election promises/statements and their subsequent dereliction of duty since gaining power!

[Chomper Higgot]

3 minutes ago, The Cyclist said:

 

I'm very much pro choice, not dumbing down to the lowest common denominator.

 

Which is a Socialist construct.

If you can provide me with any credible link to a socialist political philosophy document that promotes ‘Dumbing down to the lowest common denominator’ I might believe you.

 

Otherwise we are left with you objecting to others paying VAT when they buy an advantage over you and your children.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, scottiejohn said:

Their manifesto was a tissue of lies as was their pre election promises/statements and their subsequent dereliction of duty since gaining power!

And yet here you are discussing a commitment within the manifesto that has been demonstrated to be a truth.

 

Did you think that through?

[The Cyclist]

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

f you can provide me with any credible link to a socialist political philosophy document that promotes ‘Dumbing down to the lowest common denominator’ I might believe you.

 

I dont need to provide you with anything.

 

I just  need to look around the world and identify where Socialism is leaving the rest of the world in in its wake as speeds off into Utopia.

 

Perhaps you could help me identify such a Utopia ?

[Chomper Higgot]

Just now, The Cyclist said:

 

I dont need to provide you with anything.

 

Injust need to look around the world and identify where Socialism is leaving the rest of the world in in its wake as speeds off into Utopia.

 

Perhaps you could help me identify such a Utopia ?

If you contact the forum admin they might open a thread on the subject.

 

In the meantime if you make claims it’s for you to back them up.

[The Cyclist]

7 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

If you contact the forum admin they might open a thread on the subject.

 

Perhaps you should heed your own advice.

 

It will save you getting upset when others give you answers that you do not want to hear, especially when it pertains to your off topic deflection and obfuscation.

 

 

[vinny41]

45 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Begs the question, why these council deficits exist.

mismanagement of public funds

Lost in Iceland: £1 billion from councils, charities and police

More than 100 public bodies had money in collapsed banks

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/oct/10/banking-iceland

Here a Council that thinks it is a bank

Bankrupt Woking Borough Council 'cosplaying' as bank by lending millions to private school

Woking Borough Council had “no business” handing over millions of pounds in unsecured loans to a private school and was “cosplaying” at being a bank, a top ranking official has said.

Greenfield School borrowed millions of pounds from the now bankrupt borough but has since approached the authority to say it did “not currently have funds” to fully repay a debt of £2.4 million due to mature on November 25.

https://www.wokingnewsandmail.co.uk/news/bankrupt-woking-borough-council-cosplaying-as-bank-by-lending-millions-to-private-school-739817

[coolcarer]

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Begs the question, why these council deficits exist.

Ask Lambeth, they’ll let you know how to become masters at debt

[MicroB]

I've not bothered to read all the replies on this thread, but pleased that the topic is being discussed. Its a long post, so skip if you don't want to read it.

 

My nephew has attended an independant school since the age of 4. He's now on the cusp of starting his GCSEs, and is thriving, all the more so since joining the school cadet force, which has greatly enhanced his confidence.

 

His mother is a school teacher in the state sector, falling within the bottom 90% of the population (earning £59,000 or less). She does not live with the boy's father, who is also a state school teacher. They both contribute to his upbringing. They have first hand knowledge of the state of public education in the English East Midlands; its abysmal. My sister has experienced 2 of her pupils being stabbed to death. She has been assaulted by pupils objecting to being taught by a female. On parents night, she has met parents who have turned up drunk or under the influence. In her previous school, the majority of kids in her class were from Eastern Europe. She has been impressed how diligent they were. It is routine that teachers buy stationary supplies from their own pockets. In her present school, many parents seem to have second homes in Dubai and drive fancy cars.

 

Both parents agree that they will try their utmost for their son not to be disadvantaged by the state school. They feel he will not be given a fair shot in life. My mother and late father financially supported this. They were motivated not just out of love for their grandson, but out of concern for my sister. When she was much younger, she suffered a mental breakdown, which included being sectioned. Mercifully, that seems behind her, and she has gone on to be a school leader. But, as anyone who has suffered a mental breakdown, you never forget, and that memory can be frightening, and stress can see it return. So my parents, being elderly, were interested in the pastoral care the private school could offer (its a traditional RC school. We are not RC and not at all religious, and the boy's father is from the Subcontinent), in case something happened to them and my sister.

 

For 11 years, its been just about affordable. My sister lives frugally, with the occasional holiday in Cornwall, never eats out. She receives no bursary.

 

This move by the government has obviously  caused distress. The VAT bill is about £5000 a year. In 3 weeks time, she has to hand over a check for £10,000 to the school. The fees go up again in April, once the business rates concession are withdrawn. Increase employer NI is also kicking in.

 

While she already knew the general  availability of places in the area, her enquiries reveal there are zero places in the county for his year. The LA say they would be obliged to send him to a neighbouring county, by taxi, at a cost of £8,000 per year to the rate payer. Net loss to the public purse; £3000. This is likely to be repeated across the country. This is ludicrous. Oxfordshire has already said it will decline all mid year 10/11 transfers in January. Surrey, by FOI request, forecasts zero years 9-11 places in September 2025.

 

She has resigned herself to struggling to pay the fees. She has no choice. The alternative would be to resign her position, and home school her child. Its been a tough christmas. Her house is in a floodzone, and she has had to pay a £1500 house insurance, plus brake repairs on her car. She has had to borrow money for food this month. Naturally, the lad's christmas gifts were a bit threadbare, but he's ok with that. I feel a bit sad for him. His grandad died a couple of years ago, his gran is in a nursing home due to a NHS mistake, and now this. Both came from working class, ex-military. He's resiliant.

 

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned so far, but schools do not receive additional funding for mid-year transfers. Budgets are set based on the October rolls. The government has not put in place any additional funding. The net result might include hiring freezes, deferrment of maintenance, cuts in consumable ordering (pencils, paper etc).

 

Also, there are over 5,300 partnerships between independent and state schools, through the Schools Together programme. Some of this came about when schools had to demonstrate their charitable status, but in many cases, the programme merely formalises informal arrangements that go back decades. Its interesting looking at the Schools Together website at the nature of these partnerships. Examples include letting state school kids use the swimming pool free of charge, hosting inter-school sports events and concerts at no or nominal cost, providing speciality teachers (I estimate about 300,000 hours per year, representing I suppose about £15,000,000 @ £50 per hour).

 

The government has defined independant schools as businesses, which should pay VAT (though its actually the parents paying the VAT), and while they have not removed charitable status, they have removed most of the incentives to have charitable status (business rate relief). Many schools are likely to see accelerated declining rolls (nationally, there is a decline in overall school rolls, but not for all years), but still have the same salaries and upkeep bills. I suspect some of these partnerships in the future will come with an invoice, to help cover swimming pool upkeep, groundsman salary, contract teacher supply. The result will be less kids get to learn to swim, more end up obese, and more ignorant of the rare subjects.

 

The government, in its legislation, define the following as businesses:

 

Private schools, including non-maintained special schools

Universities

Commercial providers teaching English as a foreign language

 

Universities and TEFL schools remain exempt from charging VAT on services provided. The average gross margin for universities is about 4-5%, which is pretty good compared to a supermarket at 1-2%. No logic is provided why private schools in particular are exempt. I suspect Universities would put up more of a fight, as their existance is through Acts of Parliament, but Private Schools can only exist because the government lets them. TEFL schools I guess represent a potential voter base. Of course, acquiring a decent command of English is one of the prerequisates to gaining citizenship.

 

I expect some correspondants have interjected on the thread as supportive of the policy, along the lines of "squeezing the pips", on the assumption that the parents must be very rich. I can see how that perception arise. If I drop off the nephew at his school, there is a high density of Bentleys, Range Rovers, Porsches. I'm into my cars, but they are both old; a elderly retired race car, complete with dents and rust (nothing exotic, its Japanese) and a 20 year old Jag (because I want to tick off a V8 off the bucket list). Yeah, so I'm turning up in a banger, but they get the most looks  from the kids, because kids are kids.

 

https://medium.com/@diarmid.mackenzie/diversity-across-uk-independent-schools-a015a006f41b

 

 

I was surprised what the real world data. About 50% of kids come from households with an income of more than £59,000. I wouldn't say in 2024, £59,000 defines one as rich. It doesn't even qualify you for the LTR visa. 25% come from the bottom 70%, which means households with less than £40,000 in income.

 

So how on earth do 50% of families at independent schools afford the average £18k day fees? The answer is they can't. 1% are on full fee bursaries. 7% are on means tested bursaries. 33% have a scholarship or discount (https://www.pepf.co.uk/fact-finder/facts-and-figures/).

 

The increases due to government policy will accelerate the decline in rolls. There will be less bursaries and scholarships. The share of that pie chart by the top 10% will grow. Schools will become more exclusive, and probably less integrated with the local community as the percentage of international boarders grows

 

The others scrimp and save, often with extended family support, such as grandparents. Most of the fees already benefit the economy. The schools are often major sources of employment for rural areas. 80% of the fees typically goes in salries, which are spent in the UK. The government's unsaid objective is to drive the schools out of business. They can't afford to absorb the schools, because that means finding salaries for 80,000 teachers. Some of the oldest schools are on very expensive properties, with complex covenants. They will likely be sold off for exclusive high end residential development. Teachers in speciality subjects such as Latin will have zero chance of re-employment in the state sector. Most will probably leave educaton or go overseas. The death of the schools will be long and drawn out, as they lose critical mass, with empty classrooms

 

The government is vague about the expected windfall. It will certainly be negative in the first year, as VAT on capital expenditure over the last 10 years is paid out. Initially it was £1.5 billion in 2025, now it might be £1.8bn in 2029. The Treasury will say it will be spent on "improving public services", which might mean anything, the Department of Education is convinced they will get all the money, which I doubt. And even if they do, if they don't know how much money will be realised, how can they set budgets; government spending through raising loans, paid off by tomorrow's taxes. But really they don't care, because its Class Warfare. And Class Warfare involves dimwitted econimics, imaging the £18,000 will be spent on other taxable things, but it won't. It will be spent on holidays in the Maldives, German cars and yachts.

 

I had under estimated how factionalised Western Democracy had become, with governments around the world beholden to special interest groups, whether thats Brexiteers, Corbynites, MAGA. I'm a lifelong Tory, but consider myself to be part of the rapidly disappearing centre right/Disraeli/One-Nation part (I actively campaigned for Rory Stewart). I voted Tory in 2024; I had nothing against the sitting Tory, even though he was from the traditional Dry wing, because we have many common values. But Labour won the seat, the new MP has turned out to be a complete idiot, with whom I have vigourously and forecefully engaged with by Email. My mistake was assume that Starmer would be a "normal" politician, and "normal" discourse would resume. I'd like to think that he's not really all that committed to this policy, and believes the country has far bigger issues, and probably concluded its not a vote loser , so its a sop to the Left. But I failed to understand that he's weak. This will translate to an increasingly unhinged Labour Parliamentary Party, kind of the Ying to the Yang of the last Tory government. He won't see out his term.

 

They came for the old, then the kids. Then the rest. If private schools are businesses to be taxed, then why not universities (the Deputy PM probably thinks a University Education is a luxury, she didn't need it), certainly all those would-be fat cat CEOs getting their MBAs. Dentists as well, no excuse that you can't find a NHS one, because the government will pull out some spreadsheet showing how they increased funding for refugee dentistry. Insurance; a car is a luxury, so 20% on your policy. House contents insurance; VAT on that. Travel insurance; holidays are an indulgance for the rich only, plus killing the planet, tax on that. Books; the government missed its 20% on Harry Potter sales, it won't repeat that mistake again. Certain historic political works by Engels etc will naturally be exempted. Food; the 5% vat on cavier will end. And meat, And Kellogs, because its American etc. Electricity and water; the country as a hole will have to shoulder the burden when the government discovers a hidden £40bn blackhole under the sofa.

 

Sadly, Labour is reverting to type, but without the intelligence of Foot, Benn, Wilson, so vindictiveness coupled to stupidity. In 5 years time, the country will be in actual and figurative ruins. The chink of light is that the Tories will rediscover what they are about, and that's aspiration, and thats a pretty positive thing. Reform-UK is about negativity, things what they don't like. Reform is to the Tories what the SDP/Militant Tendency were to Labour (the two conspired to keep Labout out of power for 20 years).

 

With the current case, maybe the High Court case will be won, and that's Starmer's get out clause to save Rachel from Accounts and Phillipson, as he was a Human Rights Lawyer (of some distinction). But I am doubtful.

[The Cyclist]

For the Top 2 posters on the thread 😀😀

 

Quote

VAT on private schools ‘won’t raise enough to hit new teacher target’

Labour has been warned that its pledge to recruit 6,500 teachers will cost £5 billion a year, while the VAT policy will raise just £1.8 billion

 

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/vat-on-private-schools-wont-raise-enough-to-hit-new-teacher-target-njmr58zzl

 

Labour. Making a field of turnips, look like a field of MENSA members.

 

As the poster above notes, the head turnips of Starmer, Reeves and the Minister for Education will be hoping that the Courts save them.

 

[MicroB]

10 hours ago, The Cyclist said:

For the Top 2 posters on the thread 😀😀

 

 

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/vat-on-private-schools-wont-raise-enough-to-hit-new-teacher-target-njmr58zzl

 

Labour. Making a field of turnips, look like a field of MENSA members.

 

As the poster above notes, the head turnips of Starmer, Reeves and the Minister for Education will be hoping that the Courts save them.

 

 

 

Ha ha. I mistyped. I meant sack not save them, on the off chance he's not one of them. I still believe (naively) Starmer is basically a decent man, but flawed. Reeves I think is simply incompetant, but does a good job interview. Phillipson is simply vindictive; there are dark allegations made on social media about her mother.

 

I wish I could read that article, but I suspect it will be tragically comic. VAT on gambling will raise over £3bn a year, but they won't tax that because of working man etc. Tax on TEFL schools will raise a decent £300m, but they won't do that due to Subcontinent politics. Tax on childrenswear will raise at least £1.3bn (varying estimates of the market size).

 

The government think richer parents should specifically support the education the children of poorer parents. Yet, education funding is something that is generally accepted  as something that the whole of society funds, whether with child, with children, childless, child-free. This is not out of some alturistic motivation but because today's kids are tomorrow's taxpayers. And state pension is paid by todays taxpayers, not yesterdays. Quid Pro Quo.

 

Will childless people now be targeted for more tax because, presumably, they have lots more money sloshing around that they don't know what to do with?

 

Its interesting when you dig far into the past, before VAT, when the UK had Purchase Tax (Luxury Tax introduced in WW2). Hansard debates  are interesting. It wasn't always the case that Private Education was not taxed. But parents  had tax relief that was capped at (in 1963 £) at about £80 a year (about £1200 today). It interesting to read the Hansard debate from the day. Its much the same as now, though tax relief was couched in terms of providing relief to an over stretched state sector.

 

If the government was at all concerned with children, it could have looked mutiple options and models. One is the idea of the School voucher, amounting to say £7000, which would be effectively a £7000 discount on the average £18,000 annual fee. All schools only exist at the pleasure of the government; they cannot operate without government approval. A government could easily require said schools to increase admission numbers. The net result is probably more middle class parents would be interested in independant education, VAT take increases, relief on state schools, as state schools and private schools become more and more similar.

 

Another approach is means tested tax relief, coupled with increased admission numbers, You are shifting x% of students where its going to cost you £5bn just to get 1 extra teacher for 3 schools to a system where you have 76,000 ready made teachers paid for by someone else.

 

A colleague in India explained to me how it works in India (not suggesting Indian standards). He complained there are too many schools. But there are private schools and state schools, and some of these private schools have a very good reputation. Parents who want their children to attend these schools have to go into a lottery, and children drawn at random. The state pays most of the fees, and the parents, if they wish to take up the place, pay a very modest amount. I'm sure there are flaws in that approach, but its an example of lots of ways the government could have considered, but instead followed a show of hands at a party conference, which, like all party conferences of whatever colour, is only attended by fanatics and ideologues (Student Grant Types, Lefties, Blue Rinse Brigade, Gammons, Swivel Eyed Loons, Powerfully Built Dieectors, whatever you want to call them).

 

Oh, and Philipson has put a suspension of Free School applications and anything associated. Gove's reforms have been generally welcomed by the profession, except by her. She might have got wind of Eton College proposing to open 3 state Sixth Forms. Another act of vandalism by an unusually ill-qualified Education Secretary (in truth, virtually all Education Secretaries are unqualified, one one in the last 40 years was a former teacher, and she reisgned as she felt she wasn't up to the job).