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Writer's pictureAwadallah Abdalla

Labour’s VAT on Private Schools: A Necessary Measure or the Politics of Envy?


On the 13th of June, Labour launched their manifesto. Alongside core pledges such as the launch of Great British Energy (GB Energy), was a pledge to remove a longstanding VAT exemption on Private schools. As registered charities, private schools have long been exempt from the standard VATs applied to all businesses bringing in over £90,000


Ever since its proposal, opposition has been fierce. In the Express, Tory Councillor and columnist Mieka Smiles lambasted what she terms as a wholly ideological policy “dripping with the politics of envy and nothing more”, while the Telegraph has opined that it could “hurt” thousands of children. 


Such a response is to be expected from the same papers and sycophantic journalists that have spent the past 14 years slavishly catering to every whim of the Tory party. However, oddly, the response from left-wing tabloids has been less than favourable, albeit without the same flavour of vitriol. The lukewarm reception has been predicated on different grounds to the right-wing, such as the predicted impact on places for talented pupils from underprivileged backgrounds, or for libertarian arguments concerning the policy's encroachment on a parent's freedom of choice, the generally fraught and messy political arena of British tabloids, for at least a moment, seems close to unanimous.


Starmer’s Gamble


That was the message Sir Keir Starmer laid out in his first speech after ascending to the highest office in the land in response to the £22 Billion black hole in the public finances. In an ironic twist to Labour’s 1997 jingle “Things can only get better”, it seems that things can only get worse.


Following Starmer’s announcement, a sweeping set of cuts swiftly followed. Within days Rachel Reeves followed up with gutting winter fuel payments, infrastructure projects, and an assortment of other inherited initiatives. Alongside these proposals was the imposition of the aforementioned VAT on private schools which is expected to bring in £1.6 billion to the treasury. However, does the financial blackhole merit the VAT on independent schools?


Is the outrage justified?


One critique of the imposition of VAT surrounds the subject of social mobility. Although private school alumni make up a disproportionate percentage of those in public life, with 67% of Senior judges hailing from independent schools (despite the glaring fact that those at such institutions only make up 6-7% of Britons), they continue to give opportunities to talented pupils from underprivileged backgrounds. Orwell, who couldn’t afford the fees at Eton was instead offered a scholarship in recognition of his excellence, one which the school still continues to give out to pupils in his honour. Nevertheless, most private schools are outside the realm of the Eton Group, and many are likely to either limit the number of scholarships awarded or possibly shut down altogether.


Another purported fault would be the financial limitations it would impose on those aspiring to send their children to fee-paying schools. Several doctors, lawyers, and others in professions that typify the middle classes who had little trouble affording the fees a few decades ago, have found themselves squeezed out over the last few years. 


Nonetheless, most of those who were able to afford private schools prior to the VAT are still able to afford private tutoring, so if they come short on their fees at private school they can still, (although without some of the added perks of private school education) afford private tutoring, something which many if not most Britons can’t. 


The most glaring fault in my view, and one of the few things that unites The Spectator and The Guardian, remains the likely harm that will come to children with special needs. As many as 100,000 students at private schools have special needs, many of whom attend because their local comprehensives simply do not possess either appropriate facilities or care. While I do believe that the present Labour regime must invest more into the already downtrodden state of SEND support at comprehensive schools, this cannot be done overnight, and thus provisions must be put in place to accommodate the needs of the most vulnerable students.


What needs to be done


Though I ultimately believe that introducing VAT is sound on paper, it continues to have glaring faults. Labour must take into account the glaring good scholarships do, and more crucially the needs of those who require SEND support by alleviating or keeping the exemption on independent schools, which helps pupils in both categories fulfil their potential. In the words of Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins, Starmer and his cabinet ought to “Make private schools work for the public good”.



Image: Flickr/Reading Tom

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