At least 54 independent schools have closed since Labour imposed VAT on their fees on 1 January. Into the taxpayer-funded state sector go the kids…
As Guido is actively tracking, vital schools have closed. The government is refusing to say how many pupils have left the independent sector in total while claiming the numbers are normal. Because the numbers are anything but…
A Department for Education spokesman defended the tax by saying its receipts are “supporting the 94 per cent of children in state schools to achieve and thrive.” Bridget is fighting a class war…
Normally about 50 close in a year – it is only August. In January the number of kids in independent education had dropped 1.9% on the last year – the first fall since Covid. The Independent Schools Council said: “Anyone interested in this policy as a revenue raiser should be concerned by the number of pupils who have already left independent education, which is already much higher than the government predicted.” In 2021 private schools contributed £14.1 billion (0.7% GDP) to the economy and generated £4.3 billion of tax revenue – they also supported 282,000 jobs…
The costs of state education are broadly c£4,500 per primary school pupil and c£5,700 per secondary school pupil. Labour shooting both of its own feet there…
After Catholic Bishop Challoner School announced it was closing due to Labour’s private school tax raid, around 100 parents emailed Bromley Council asking to move to their child to a state school. Another casualty…
Guido has been running a rolling list of private schools that have been forced to close down since Labour’s punitive tax came into effect in January. Of the 33 schools that have announced closures or proposed closures, there were at least 3,351 private school pupils displaced. Not all of the schools provided a number of pupils…
As it costs councils an average £8,210 a year to educate a child. If all of those displaced students went to state school, the tab for the taxpayer would be £26.5 million. And that’s just the ones that have closed so far…
It’s been another tough week for the government in the Lords, where Labour’s divisive attacks on private schools are unravelling fast. Tory legend Lord Caine pointed out the increasing list of school closures (as Guido noted) forced by the government’s VAT policy – along with the disastrous effects of other tax hikes. The minister, Jacqui Smith, grinned as she refused to utter a word of apology to the kids whose schools are being forced to close…
Labour were again caught out on their rationale for the policy – the government had claimed VAT on school fees would fund more teachers – but Starmer has now admitted that cash has been funnelled to housing. Labour’s nasty class war politics is more suited to the sixth form common room than the corridors of power…
Since Labour’s tax raid on private schools came into effect in January, at least 18 independent schools have publicly announced they are closing this year due to the VAT measures, while eight schools have launched consultations to close after the summer. Meaning around 3,385 pupils will be displaced. The casualties include:
Continue reading “All The Private Schools Closing This Year After Labour Tax Raid”
Private schools have seen the biggest year-on-year fall in the number of pupils since 2010 thanks to Labour’s punitive VAT raid. Latest figures from the Department for Education show the numbers fell by more than 11,000 in January to 582,500 in England, a 1.9% decrease since last year. The tax was a nail in the coffin for many small independent schools, including one in Reeves’ own constituency…
That number is far from the government’s naive prediction that only 3,000 pupils would be forced out of these schools in the first year. The figures from the Department for Education only include figures in England, though according to Independent Schools Council, the UK-wide number of private school pupils dropped by 13,000 in a year. Labour again vastly underestimating the fallout from their punishing tax grab…
The Independent Schools Council, which represents private schools, has today produced analysis on fee increases since the government instituted its school tax. Surprise – Labour’s sums were duff…
The ISC reports that after speaking to its member schools that average fees rose by 22.6% in January compared to 8.4% in 2024 and 6.4% the year before that. Labour predicted a 10% rise…
The group said “it seems clear to us that the government has underestimated the effect” and pointed out that Reeves’ concurrent tax hikes – mainly NICs – have increased costs for schools. Labour has based the analysis around its policy on a series of reports produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Luke Sibieta, a close friend of Labour minister Matthew Pennycook. Even the IFS admitted the amount of money produced will be tiny. This policy turning into an expensive catastrophe…
Shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns told Times Radio she would have put a precondition on a China trip if she were PM:
“I would have put a precondition that I was not going to go if I was prime minister, unless Jimmy Lai was coming home with me. I would also put a precondition in the six months leading up to the visit that I wanted a reduction in hostile acts against our country. But that’s not what we saw. And actually, in contrast, what we saw was clearly the Chinese Communist Party did put a precondition, which was that the new embassy in London had to be signed off. So why is it okay for China to set preconditions and to make very clear red lines about what they require for a visit, but we go without having put any ourselves?”