The VAT on private school fees seems to be a very divisive one, and mostly focused by Labour supporters on private school parents being able to suck up a 20% increase Well here’s my take on the lesser talked about issues, and it’s about the wider scale of the problem 1. If more than the number of planned kids move to state sector, it’s a net loss policy, so far the figures look like they are way out. We will see with time, with next September being the largest likely time (conveniently monitoring stops then) 2. If too many kids leave, the private school closes and now all those kids have to be placed 3. Local authorities are obligated to find a place. There may be places in parts of the country but they don’t necessarily geographically align with the private schools. For instance, Surrey, which has quite a few private schools has announced its run out of places 4. Schools that also operate as charities were legally obligated to give back, and so offered burseries, offered free rental of facilities, that’ll stop 5. Serivces like, private swimming clubs, etc will now have to pass on VAT, as the school has to, to the swimming club, and then to the end customer 6. The argument is often framed as schools should pay their tax as other businesses have to, except for two things, nurseries and universities are also businesses and are still VAT exempt. Secondly VAT is not paid by the school at all, it’s paid by the end consumer, the parents 7. If as reported, many private schools close down as a result of that, it’s not long about 5-8% of pupils moving from private to state sector, it’s now 100% of pupils moving from private to state sector. No council can cope with that 8. Schools can immediately reclaim tax up to 10 years of capital projects such as buildings and land acquisition Now onto what happens when places have run out in councils. One of these three things will happen, because local authorities are obligated to find a place for children: A. They will try to find places further afield, for which taxis will be provided each way for those kids and funded by the local tax payer B. They will pay to send them back to the very same private school they came from, but now the tax payer will pick up the entire cost of the school fees, not just the VAT C. The will overfill the school, which will put a strain on the education of the kids already in that school, or more teachers are hired and class rooms built, which is also a big drain on the taxpayer D. EHCP kids resources are already likely to cause some councils to go bankrupt this year, as reported recently, and that’s without all the additional numbers of children moving back from private schools to the state sector Now lastly, and most importantly, that very few of the supporters of this policy seem to discus, the effect on the kids themselves and their education and friends: 1. Choosing to bring this in mid year is incredibly damaging to their education, especially those in examination years as they may not be able to register for GCSEs and A-levels and their new schools and the new schools won’t accept the enrolment on the old examining board. It is a fact that education is harmed more by moving mid-year than between school years 2. Kids will leave their friends behind which can damage social and emotional development 3. If there’s no schools close by they’ll be spending hours a day travelling to and from school, affecting their family life I’d love there to be a system where private schools were no longer necessary, but we do that by levelling up the state sector, not levelling down the private sector The biggest factor to why people choose private education is because of the far better pupil to teacher ratio, and that’s a huge task to achieve, and huge amount of money, in the state sector Personal disclaimer: I was privately educated until 16, after which I went to a Grammar school until 18 and my own children are in state education