
What is Labour’s controversial private school VAT raid policy?
The IndependentThe best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The government has decided to start charging 20 per cent VAT on private schools from the start of 2025, in a move it says will fund its spending commitments. Covering costs such as the national insurance hike and business rates on top of VAT would likely result in a fee rise of around 20 per cent, say independent school leaders. Ending tax breaks on private schools will help to raise the revenue needed to fund our education priorities for next year.” Currently, the average private day school charges between £3,000 and £5,500 per term, according to the Independent Schools Council ’s 2023 Census, with over a third of pupils receiving fee assistance. The IFS has estimated that removing tax exemptions could have a net gain to the public finances of around £1.3 to £1.5 billion per year, allowing for about a two per cent increase in spending on state schools – but it concluded the policy is likely to have little impact when it comes to reducing inequalities by school attended.
History of this topic

Labour's private school tax-raid 'forces fee-paying families who have children with special educational needs to move home'
Daily Mail
Team of barristers lined up by Rachel Reeves to fight High Court case against her school fees tax... are all privately educated themselves
Daily Mail
Labour's 'destructive approach' to independent schools will not be looked on kindly by history after VAT tax raid, warns UK's most powerful education figures
Daily Mail
Chancellor spending hundreds of thousands in legal fees defending her VAT raid on private school fees
Daily Mail
Labour's VAT tax raid on private schools is forcing most to cut staff, bursaries and subjects on offer while pupil numbers are already plunging, new figures show
Daily Mail
Labour VAT raid on private school fees forces Scotland's largest private school which charges up to £20,000 a year to launch fundraising appeal
Daily Mail
Labour MP: VAT charge on private schools could make elitist system more elitist
The Independent
Labour's tax raid on private education set to claim another victim as independent school attended by Suella Braverman becomes latest to face closure
Daily Mail
Private school fees and plane fares to drive increase in inflation
The Independent
Our state primary is overrun by pupils from private schools – now playdates are hell
The Independent
Phillipson dodges question on impact of private school tax raid
The Independent
Private school teachers are being sacked and having their pay cut because of Labour's VAT raid on fees, union warns
Daily Mail
Fury as a fifth of private schools are set to pass on Labour's punishing VAT raid on fees to parents - despite fears it will 'damage' children
Daily Mail
The VAT ‘raid’ on private schools has finally made me proud to have voted Labour
The Independent
Private schools ‘to raise fees by more than Starmer predicted’ as controversial VAT policy imposed
The Independent
Private schools issue damning warning over Labour's school VAT raid as controversial policy comes in
Daily Mail
Starmer defends controversial private schools VAT policy by arguing it will benefit middles classes
The Independent
Private school tax breaks ‘a luxury we cannot afford’, says education secretary
The Independent
Starmer’s VAT hike will leave some GCSE students without a school by January, warns council
The Independent
UK to funnel £1.5 billion into public education with private school tax reform
Live Mint
School chiefs turn on Rachel Reeves after 'shameful' claim that VAT raid will give all children the 'best start'
Daily Mail
UK to tax private schools in £1.5 bn boost to public education
Hindustan Times
Starmer’s VAT raid will ensure private schools become even more elitist
The Independent
Labour preparing for private school closures after VAT raid on fees, suggest reports
The Independent
Families launch legal action over government’s private school fees VAT raid
The Independent
VAT changes for private schools could impact children’s mental health – Tory MP
The Independent
Head of £46,700-a-year Stowe school where Richard Branson, Henry Cavill and David Niven were educated says private school parents should be 'celebrated' rather than punished because they save the stat
Daily Mail
After private-school tax raid Eton tells parents: We can't afford to drop our £63,000-a-year fees
Daily Mail
Labour's tax raid on private tuition fees is left in CHAOS - as school heads have been unable to register for VAT on HMRC site
Daily Mail
More than 3,000 privately-educated pupils applied to join state schools between June and September as Labour's VAT tax raid forces parents to pay extra £2,000 on fees
Daily Mail
Private school closes because of Labour VAT and NI tax raids
The Telegraph
Foreign Office asks private schools to offer discounted fees for diplomats' children following Labour's VAT raid
Daily Mail
Will school fees and farmers prove a roadblock to Labour’s Budget plans?
The Independent
Private school group to launch legal action over Government’s VAT plan on fees
The Independent
Meet the parents taking the government to court over VAT on private schools
The Independent
Parents already turning down private school places as Labour’s VAT policy looms
The Independent
What is ‘toddler tax’ that could see some parents paying VAT on nursery fees?
The Independent
Private schools Budget VAT raid confirmed in new year as Rachel Reeves refuses to delay removing tax exemption despite fears for schools and students
Daily Mail
Private schools warn sector could ‘fall apart’ if hit by national insurance and VAT tax blow
The Independent
France and Germany slam Labour's VAT plan for private schools - and warn it could force hundreds of pupils out of international schools
Daily Mail
Military families set to be exempt from Labour’s controversial VAT on private school fees
The Independent
What COULD be in Rachel Reeves' £25billion Budget 'tax bomb'? From CGT to NICs, pension pots and inheritance tax - the options for the Chancellor to milk more money from Brits
Daily Mail
Private school VAT raid may exempt military personnel’s children
The Independent
Corbyn alliance MPs unite with Tories to oppose Labour’s private school tax raid
The Independent
Private school VAT raid may exempt military personnel’s children
The Telegraph
School VAT tax raid to go ahead in win for Bridget Phillipson
The Independent
Private schools plan legal challenge against Starmer’s VAT raid
The Telegraph
Head of Bedales school where Daniel Day Lewis, Kirstie Allsopp and Lily Allen were educated warns Labour's VAT raid on private school fees is 'levelling down'
Daily Mail
Parents appalled after council asks those trying to move their children to state education from private schools to prove how poor they are
Daily MailDiscover Related



























