Hi All,

Last night, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves told executives at The Times CEO Summit that Labour would delay school fee VAT until September 2025, at the earliest.  Labour insiders added that Ms Reeves would seek advice from government officials if she becomes Chancellor, before setting a final date.  You can read all about it in The Times here.

This is great news.  We as the Education Not Taxation campaign want a full impact assessment by relevant experts, including the Office for Budget Responsibility and children's commissioners in each UK country, among others.  We also want Labour to take the time to meet with independent schools, parents and children.  We are also calling on Labour to ensure their proposed policy is examined and debated extensively in parliament, regardless of how they ultimately choose to implement it. This would ideally include a full cost benefit analysis via the Department of Education and the Treasury. 

We are not a party-political group and this isn’t about scoring political points.  It’s about improving education without forcing kids out of their schools or pitting schools against each other.  We all want great schools, but school fee VAT won’t achieve this goal.

Two recent stories demonstrate the chaos and panic this policy proposal is already causing.

On Monday, Nick Ferrari interviewed Sir Keir Starmer on LBC and gave members of the public an opportunity to ask a question.  Michelle Catterson, head of Moon Hall School in Reigate, asked about special education needs and Starmer confirmed that only children with Education Health and Care Plans (ECHPs) would be exempted from this policy.   According to the Independent Schools Council census for 2024, just 6.9% of the 95,332 independent school pupils with special education needs have an EHCP.  One mother, Amy, shared her struggles of getting an EHCP for her daughter who has progressive and permanent hearing loss.  You can hear Amy’s story, shared with Patrick Christys (GB News), here.

Kirstie McCormick also shared her powerful story with iNews.  She finds herself in the position where she cannot afford to send her child to independent school if Labour add VAT, and she cannot find a place in local state schools.  We strongly encourage you to take a look, and you can find it here.  We need more stories that show the costs this policy will have on so many people.  Please get in touch if you’d be willing to share yours.  You can reach us by email on mail@educationnottaxation.org.

Finally, keep your diaries free for Wednesday 26 June between 16.30-17.30.  A group of leading headteachers, ENT spokesperson Loveena Tandon and representatives from the Independent School Council will discuss the impact VAT will have on school fees.  This free event will take place via YouTube Live, and you can access it here: https://www.youtube.com/live/LA7C4CEg9q4.  Please share this link far and wide with as many friends, neighbours and community members as you can.

Over 166,000 people have now signed this petition.  Let's get even more signatures so that we're well heard.  Please spread the word - take 5 steps to build our numbers and get our voices heard!  We are moving the debate...and we need your help:

1. Share this petition widely; by email, on X, on Facebook or WhatsApp; send this message to your school group and to a parent at a different school to yours; encourage everyone to "receive updates" so we can keep in touch (instructions below). 
2. Follow us on X @EducationNotTax; comment and re-tweet #ThisTaxHelpsNoOne and #FindaBetterWay
3. Join our Facebook Group, if you're a parent of an independent school child
4. Write to your MP and all candidates - there's a letter template in the FB group, along with other useful resources.  You can find candidates from all parties seeking your vote here.
5. Forward this note to your Head, Governors and Heads of Finance and ask them to share the petition with school parents, teachers and leadership – everyone has a right to know about this petition and it's these leaders' duty to share it whether or not they want to get involved.

Be sure to follow our petition, and ask others to do the same.  For those signing the petition, select the option to “follow updates”.  

If you’ve signed the petition and aren’t getting updates, do the following:

1. Click your profile (top right on change.org) and log in 
2. Select "manage communication preferences"
3. Select "Send me emails when...There is an update to a petition I’ve signed"
4. That's it!  Thank you 

Thank you for all your support!

Tony Perry
Education Not Taxation