We have, within the Borough of Sefton, a number of parents who have made the decision not to take up a place in their local primary or secondary school but instead to pay for their child to attend a private school. There are currently over 2,000 students in private school in Sefton. This means of course paying for the education in some cases for both their primary and secondary years. These parents do not get a reimbursement from their community charge because they did not take up their place in the state sector.
This is a commitment that parents do not take lightly. Many parents make big financial sacrifices in order to fund their child through the Independent sector. Not for them are the holidays abroad, flash cars and designer clothing but instead a willingness to pay for not only education but for school meals and extra-curricular activities for at least 11 years.
The October budget brought with it some difficult issues for our private schools and considerable worry and anxiety for the parents of children who attend private schools.
The policy advice and legislation states that the current charitable exemption from charging VAT by private schools will be removed. This statement, coupled with the statement that the charitable business rates (typically 80% of the full business rate liability will be removed, adds additional costs to these schools. Added to this, is the increase in National Insurance contributions for employers, adding a further hike to school fees. It is envisaged that fees will rise by 20% to include not only the educational fees but catering and activates of an extra-curricular nature. Capital expenditure in the near future will of course be very limited.
Half of Independent schools are charitable and the fees charged do not line the pockets of shareholders and, by law, the fees charged should be reinvested into the school .The Charities Commission expects the trustees to operate with minimal reserves and consequently there will little left in the bank to cushion the inevitable fee increases from parents.
Labour has stated that they would keep the VAT exemption for the fees of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) that have an education health care plan (EHCP). It is to be noted however that there are a considerable number of children with SEN who do not have an EHCP and that there is a considerable delay across all local councils in being able to access an assessment. An MP in February stated that there were 96,000 pupils in this category.
There is no doubt that these increases in fees will cause parents to withdraw their child from their school. This will break up friendship groups and disrupt their child’s education. Those parents that have scrimped and saved to find the fees for this type of education will withdraw them, thus making independent school more “elite”
But where will these children find a place? Is there room to accommodate these pupils in a local school? The vacant places tend to be in schools that are undersubscribed because they are “ requiring improvement” Moving schools in the middle of a key stage can be difficult but it becomes an immense problem at GCSE time when some schools may be offering different courses and examination syllabuses. Schools do not have “elastic walls” and the majority of successful schools are oversubscribed as their class sizes operate at 30 pupil capacity.
Whilst the population within Sefton is increasing, there appears to be few planning applications for any of our local schools to build new premises to accommodate the additional children. Even small scale expansion of school buildings takes over a year from planning to implementation and for some projects even longer. Opening schools in the places of high demand are fraught with challenges.
As previously stated some of the pupils in the independent sector have special educational needs. To try to accommodate these pupils into mainstream schools will be difficult. A recent report in The Times Educational Supplement Teacher TAPP (22 nd November 2024) stated that around two thirds of teachers across primary and secondary schools say that their training did not prepare them to be able to meet the needs of pupils in any of the main areas of SEN. The Government is making a major push for mainstream schools to be able to meet the needs of more pupils with SEN.
The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has stated that schools “ will need to support a much wider range of often more complex needs than they might have experienced in the past “ This will of course cause considerable issues for schools as they endeavour to accommodate such a diverse pupil population. Changing school can be difficult for the majority of pupils but can be very challenging for pupils who have special educational needs.
It will be interesting to see over the next couple of years the impact that these changes to the fee structure will have upon our children. For those that have to leave the private sector, how easy will it be for them to obtain a school place in their locality, how well will their needs be met , how long will their journey be to and from school and most importantly what will be the impact on their attainment?
However, all will be well, as Sir Keir Starmer has stated that the taxes imposed on private schools would fund 6,500 new teachers for state schools. It takes a minimum of three years to train a teacher and so we can perhaps see some additional teachers in our schools in 2027 a bit late for those pupils forced out in the next couple of years. Recruitment and retention issues are a persistent problem in the state sector and it show no sign of abating.
Private schools currently save the Treasury an estimated £4.4 billion which it would otherwise have to spend on state education and they also contribute £5.1 billion in tax revenues, even before the new VAT increases. The politics of envy have permeated the Labour Party for many years. It was Tony Blair’s Government that abolished the assisted places scheme in 1997 , which was introduced by the Conservative Government in 1980. This scheme catered for about 6,000 pupils per year enabling pupils who may not have the financial means to finance private education, gain access to a private school on the completion of an entrance examination. Thus the social range of pupils at these schools was reduced.
Meanwhile our Prime Minister, Sir Kier Starmer, attended a grammar school which subsequently became private during his time there, meaning he benefited in part from private education, although he received bursaries for this and did not pay fees.