Nearly half of voters do not think private schools should be exempt from VAT
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Nearly half of voters do not think private schools should be exempt from VAT, a poll has found.
Around a fifth of adults support tax breaks for private schools but close to a third were unsure, according to research by Civitas, a social policy think tank.
The findings come as private schools brace for a tax raid if Labour wins the next election. Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to add 20 per cent VAT to fees and end business rates relief enjoyed by independent schools.
Smaller private schools have warned they face closure if the policies are enforced because parents will not be able to afford the higher fees. Schools have said they do not have the reserves to absorb the levy and will be forced to pass it on to families.
When asked whether private schools should be exempt from VAT, 48 per cent of respondents disagreed, more than double the 22 per cent that agreed. Support for VAT exemption was highest in London and lowest in Scotland.
The research also showed that there is overwhelming support for the right of parents to choose independent schools, including among two thirds of Labour voters.
Some 72 per cent of respondents said they thought it was right for parents to use their money to give their children the best possible start in life, including by sending them to private schools. Among people who voted Labour in 2019, the figure in support of parents’ right to choose private schools was 66 per cent.
Only 15 per cent of people said they wanted private schools to be abolished.
Voters polled suggested they would rather private schools offered more scholarships and bursaries than were made to pay the same taxes as businesses.
Almost half (48 per cent) of respondents said they would take a more favourable attitude towards private schools if they offered more bursaries and scholarships.
Ellen Pasternack, one of the poll’s authors, said: “Our polling shows that the public overwhelmingly support the liberal principle that people should have the right to educate their children privately if they can afford to do so, rather than the state being the only provider of education – just like people have the right to choose private healthcare if they can afford it, instead of using the NHS.”
Ms Pasternack said: “Every demographic group we surveyed agreed that it is ‘right’ for parents to spend money on giving their children the best start in life, including by sending them to private schools, and that private schools should not be abolished.”
The research was funded by private school groups, including the Independent Schools Council and the Heads’ Conference.
This week, a grassroots campaign led by parents attempting to stop Labour imposing the policy, received more than 100,000 signatures from those lending their support.
The campaign, started by Tony Perry, 46, an NHS data analyst from Berkshire who has chosen to educate his son privately because he has dyslexia, is assembling “VAT champions” in schools to support other families who are struggling to sleep because they are worrying about fee rises.
Conservative MPs warned that Labour’s policy, which Sir Keir claims will raise £1.7 billion a year for state schools, will backfire as it will make private schools more exclusive.
Neil O’Brien, the Conservative MP for Harborough, said: “Targeting people who choose to invest in education is very destructive. Unlike luxury holidays or fancy cars, investing in education is socially useful for the country.
It won’t raise what Labour hopes. It will make independent schools a bit more exclusive by hammering those who aren’t super wealthy but prioritise investing in their children’s education.”
Labour has been contacted for comment.
‘I was a Labour voter but this smacks of middle-class hatred’
Adrian James, 50, a former Labour voter from Edinburgh, said Sir Keir Starmer’s tax raid on private schools “smacks of middle-class hatred”.
Mr James, an IT manager, said he moved his two children, aged 10 and 13, to private schools after one was bullied and his other child was diagnosed with dyslexia but her state school said she would have to wait at least two years to receive extra support.
He said that Labour’s policy will harm “working families who have the solitary goal of ensuring their children have a decent education and are protected and not subject to violence in schools, and also have the ability to access services for dyslexia.”
He added: “I was a Labour voter but now I see a party bereft of policy so they choose to create a policy that taxes children and to heck with the consequences. This policy smacks of middle class hatred.”
Mr James, whose wife is also an IT manager, has volunteered to become a “VAT champion” to support other parents. He fears his children would not be able to stay in private education if fees rose by 20 per cent.
He said: “We work three jobs between us to pay for the thing we value: our children’s education.
“We already watch our food shopping. We are not in a big house but even then we have to shut down areas of the house and don’t heat them.
“We’ve been constantly looking at ways to minimise our fuel bill… It’s constant and I have question marks over our ability to send our children to independent schools if this is implemented in the way that Labour plans to implement it.”
