Unlike the United States, religious schools in the United Kingdom are usually state funded, however 20 percent of religious schools are private schools.
Although the British people often think of private schools being like Eton or Harrow – famous “public schools” known for its wealthy and often upper-class students – most religious private schools have a much poorer clientele.
The new Labour Government – elected in July – says it was ending tax breaks on private schools “to improve standards and opportunities for the nine out of 10 children who attend state schools.”
“The money raised from VAT will fund public services, including education priorities for the next academic year,” the government said in a statement.
However, in addition to the increase in tuition fees, parents are complaining the imposition of the tax on January 1 – the middle of the school calendar – is an additional burden.
Caroline Farrow, a Catholic British journalist and commentator, says the way the new tax was implemented gave parents who would now no longer be able to afford the fees, “the unpalatable decision of whether or not to withdraw their children from independent schools, straight away, or midway through the academic year, causing them maximum disruption.”
“In addition to the stress of finding a school place at extremely short notice, many parents were faced with still having to pay for the Autumn term’s fees or loss of deposit, because independent schools contractually require at least a term’s notice of a child’s departure if it is outside of the natural leaving date,” she told Crux.
“Students in Years 9, 10 and 11 face significant difficulty finding school places in state schools, and official government advice published on local authority websites, is that students should not be transferring schools, especially during years 10 and 11, when they are studying for their GCSE public examinations,” Farrow added.
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects and play the most significant role in a student’s advancement in education.
St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Stoke-on-Trent announced it would shut for good at the end of 2024 due to the VAT rule.
“I hoped we would be able to get through it, but the introduction of VAT and the reduction of business rates is the straw that will break the camel’s back,” Headteacher Dan Hood told the BBC.
“We are not in a position to absorb 20 percent VAT increases; we have struggled as it is. I’ve got 22 staff that will now need to find a new job and I’ve got 70 children that need a new school. It is dreadful for all concerned,” he said.
Although religious private schools have asked for an exemption, the Labour Government says it will not lift the VAT for those schools.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told ITV News there won’t be any exemptions “in this area because we have to raise money to invest in the state sector.”
“We’ve had a lot of scaremongering and bogus data from private school lobby groups over a number of years. We announced this policy some years ago, ahead of the election, we’d always been clear it was our intention to make this change,” she said.
Farrow said the VAT ruling will hurt students with special needs the most.
“My two youngest children both have complex autism; we applied for an EHCP for my son in May 2023 and have had to go through the appeals process twice, in order for it to be granted. Had we been able to afford it, we would have sent him to a local specialist independent school for boys with learning difficulties,” she told Crux.
“Had we done so, he would have got the help he needed, whereas now, he has begun to spiral as a result of being in a school that is constantly overwhelming, but we would also now be subject to an additional 20 percent in VAT. Our Local Authority does pay for children to attend this school, so parents paying themselves, are saving the state a considerable amount of money,” Farrow said.
She added many parents in our situation who have children with autism know that their children do not have time to spare and therefore choose to enroll them in independent education because it is easier than going through the EHCP process and it guarantees their children can access the support and environment they need in order to be able to learn.
“If your child attends a mainstream private school, but receives additional education related to their learning difficulty, such as literacy or numeracy support for dyslexia or dyscalculia, or targeted support to help them to help them identify trigger situations, strategies to cope and emotional regulation techniques, these too will now be subject to an additional 20 percent tax,” she said.