SEND parent calls for VAT delay on school fees

Solicitor and single mother Melissa Moore has written to the government to urge it to rethink the introduction of VAT on school fees

Parents of private school pupils and MPs in Worcestershire have urged the Labour government to delay adding VAT to fees.

Single mother Melissa Moore said she faced having to find an extra £300 a month to pay for her son's fees, to keep him in a school that met his special educational needs.

Ms Moore is part of a parent group of more than 500 families to write to the Department for Education, to urge it to halt or delay the policy.

A 20% VAT rate will be added to private school fees from 1 January 2025, the government said the increase was needed to help fund 6,500 new teachers in England.

"I feel that my choice of using my income to invest in my child's future... is being prejudiced," said Ms Moore, a solicitor, who sends her 13-year-old son to RGS Worcester.

"I drive an 18-year-old car, I buy my clothes from charity shops... I save everywhere I can.".

'Just a naughty boy - Melissa Moore

Now in Year 9, she said she had moved him from a state to a private school after he was diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) during the Covid pandemic.

"He was just a naughty boy at state school... we do have good state schools but he did have certain needs which weren't met," Ms Moore said.

"[But] they weren't severe enough to have specific SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) support or an EHCP (education, health and care plan)," she said.

Ms Moore said RGS Worcester's smaller class sizes and sports provision had helped with her son's learning.

An independent school since 1983, RGS Worcester's family of nursery, primary and senior schools currently admit almost 1,500 pupils

An independent school since 1983, RGS Worcester's current fees for 2024-25 are more than £18,000, an increase of about 10% on the previous academic year.

While the school has not announced how much fees will rise to take into account the VAT introduction, parents at the school said they anticipated fees would go up by 15-17% in January.

"I come from a working-class background... I’m going to have to find another £300 a month on a really stretched budget... or move him to a school where it won’t be the right environment for him," Ms Moore explained.

'Tough but necessary' - minister

At the moment, private schools do not have to charge VAT on their fees because of a legal exemption for organisations providing education.

In a parliamentary debate on Tuesday, treasury minister James Murray said the VAT increase was needed to help fund improvements to state schools, and said the move was "tough but necessary".

"We want to improve state schools across this country, so that when people have children with SEND, they never need to send them to a private school, because the provision in state schools is better".

Treasury Minister James Murray said to help fund improvements to state schools, they have made the "tough but necessary" to end tax breaks to private schools

The government previously stated children with legally-binding education health care plans (EHCPs) who are in fee-paying schools because of a shortage of provision in the state sector would be exempt from the increase.

Mr Murray added that most private schools should be able to absorb a significant proportion of the fee increase, and said the government expected less than 0.5% of private school pupils would be displaced.

Worcester's other family of independent schools, King's, has already announced it will not pass on the cost this academic year.

'Policy won't fulfil aims' - opposition MP

But the Conservative MP for Bromsgrove, Bradley Thomas, warned the policy would displace children in the middle of exam preparation.

"The reality is this policy won’t fulfil its aims... it will have serious impacts on families," he said.

He said he had received many letters from parents in the county protesting at the change, and called for it to be abandoned, or delayed until September 2026.

Worcestershire County Council said it had received 103 inquiries so far this year from parents looking to move their child from independent to state school.

Of that number, it said 49 had been allocated a state-funded place, with 14 taking them up.

The local authority added that while school provision is forecast to be sufficient overall, it had identified a small number of areas where there would be a shortage.

'Overhaul needed' - view from state school

On the other side of Worcester, state secondary school head teacher Neil Morris is convinced the current "unequal" school system needs to be reformed.

"We’re underfunded. We’re struggling. I could do a much better curriculum if we had more funding," he said.

While he admitted he had no strong views on the VAT policy, he argued the "amazing" facilities of local private schools should not only be available for affluent families.

Neil Morris, head teacher at Christopher Whitehead Language College, said state schools were struggling with underfunding

But he was sceptical as to whether the VAT policy would impact the richest private schools, falling instead on smaller ones.

"I don’t want anyone to lose their job - anybody in education - but I do think this is a system that needs a dramatic overhaul," he said.

In an opposition day debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday, a Conservative motion asking for the government to publish impact assessment of making fees subject to VAT was defeated by 363 votes to 190.