Alison has criticised government plans to introduce VAT on school fees, branding it a “tax on aspiration”.
Currently, school fees are tax-exempt, as are all activities of educational charities. Parents opting to place their children in fee-paying schools are saving the taxpayer money by freeing up places in the state schools. However, the Labour government has committed to introducing VAT on school fees. The Institute for Fiscal Studies forecasts that a 3-7% drop in private school children will cost the government an additional £300 million per year.
Speaking in Parliament, Alison Griffiths said, “Far from improving the education system, this policy will add stress to state schools already grappling with limited resources and overcrowded classrooms. It is a tax on aspiration which disproportionately impacts hardworking families already making sacrifices.”
Alison went on to highlight the risk to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision: “This policy would damage the significant contribution independent schools make to special educational needs and disabilities provision.” In the debate, she cited a constituent who felt forced to send their child with SEND to a private school after being failed in two state schools. They have needed to borrow money and secure a bursary to do so. Now, they are unsure how they will raise the additional funds to keep their child in this school.
With falling pupil numbers taking independent school sizes below viable levels, and the withdrawal of business rates relief exacerbating the threat of school closures, Alison argues that such children risk being excluded from education altogether – either through unaffordability or because the schools will be forced to close.
