2507C0
Whitewavemark2
But it isn’t £2k a year😄.
That is the point of the OP
And as for the private schools - I think that if you look - school fees have risen year on year far above inflation - and many of the schools are awash with surplus. So perhaps it would be good advice to give those running these schools to tighten their belts a little just as 93% of other schools providing our children’s education have had to do over the past 14 years. Then in doing so they could absorb the vat by perhaps not hiking the fees once again.
Many of the independent schools who will be hit by paying VAT are certainly not awash with surplus money. Many will close. Many offer support for children struggling and failing in mainstream education and this will disappear and there will be an extra burden on state schools to provide this. The state system cannot provide what's needed by many of their students as it is. How are they going to do so for even more children? There are also children from HM Forces families boarding in independent boarding schools so that their education is stable and they are not disadvantaged by having to move schools every couple of years. It also allows them to make friends and develop socially and this important part of human development is not negatively impacted. What happens to these children? There's a significant number of children who are placed in independent schools by social services, often in boarding placements, who will have that support removed. There will be no alternatives for them. I won't go into why the children are placed there, but they are and they are often happy to be there and thrive. It's a nightmare policy from Labour that simply feeds into people's beliefs that all independent schools are full of children of the very rich and a belief that all independent schools are all like Eaton and Harrow, which they most certainly are not.
Many? I wonder if you could give some data behind that comment please.
With regard to children of military serving officers. My grandchildren attended a state school that boards children from military serving overseas, so your point doesn’t stand.
With regard to children apparently failing in state education. If the parents can afford school fees they can of course afford to buy in professional help with any difficulties their child is experiencing if the state school is not being sufficiently funded to provide these services yet. My daughter did just that (both severely dyslexic - both educated to post degree level).
With regard to children being placed into boarding by social services. My grandsons partner works in just such an establishment, and I have absolutely no doubt that exemptions can be allowed if deemed necessary for these children who need educational/social and most importantly psychological support.
Make no mistake - fee paying schools are run as a business, with “surplus” which is usually sent off shore to invest not in the U.K. but elsewhere.
Not everyone in the Tory party agree with your points
Michael Gove supported removing tax advantages enjoyed by private schools as one of the best ways of ending society's "burning injustices".
The Levelling Up Secretary said to his "continuing surprise we still consider the education of the children of plutocrats and oligarchs to be a charitable activity".
