Recently there has been an absolute raft of journalism on VAT reform and private schools, specifically the topic of the Labour government eradicating VAT exemptions for fee-paying schools in the new year.

The majority of the coverage concerning VAT reform and private schools has concerned the resulting price hike in fees that could come from this, for example, Eton potentially having to raise its fees to an astonishing £63,000 per annum in response to this legislative change.

Elsewhere taglines, such as ‘Biggest private girls’ school chain raises fees by 12pc over VAT raid’ and ‘Private school calls VAT increase the final straw’ have painted an ominously dark cloud over the future of many private schools in the UK, especially those that were already financially on the cusp before these recent announcements.

What is even more interesting to me is how there is a lot of evidence to show that numbers of children attending private school are now dwindling due to these very recent changes.

The Independent Schools Council (ISC) have reported members tallying up to a nearly 5% drop-off in pupils starting Year 7 this academic year.

Whether this can be put down as a response to the VAT change is debatable.

It is more likely that many private schools were already becoming too expensive.

I myself attended an independent school at secondary level. When I finished in 2014, the fees were roughly £3000 per term (£9000 per annum).

They are now just shy of £8000 per term!

Surely it can’t just be me who thinks that these fees are getting out of hand, and more importantly, are pricing a growing proportion of families out of private education.

If the changes do go through (and this is a big if, because there are already talks of Labour retrenching on their position regarding VAT exemption cuts for private schools already), then it will be interesting to see if there is a noticeable influx of students into the state sector.

Funnily enough as I write this, I have just seen another article discussing how the Independent Schools’ Council has voted to take legal action against the VAT cuts. The drama continues…

Further Reading: Toby Helm – Doubts grow over Labour’s VAT plan for private schools (The Guardian)