Dear All,

The King’s Speech outlined the new Government’s priorities for the next parliamentary session, and it confirmed taxing independent school fees is one of those priorities. However, the King added that "all significant tax and spending changes are subject to an independent assessment by the Office for Budget Responsibility.”  

This is a positive step, but we also urge the Labour Government to meet with independent schools and parents – and, to that end, it’s more important than ever that we as parents ensure MPs hear our concerns.  

As a first step since the election, we wrote a letter directly to Sir Keir Starmer, as Prime Minister, expressing our concerns about this policy – not only in terms of disruption for children’s education, but also the economic and educational assumptions that underpin this policy.  These include, for example:

• Comparing a 1-2% annual increase over 20 years with an estimated 15% increase (after schools reclaim input VAT) in one go.
• Parents not spending their hard-earned money on fees would simply blow it all on VAT-able goods and services, and none on paying down debt, tutoring or childcare
• State schools will be able to absorb the costs of the tax, without explaining how, or likelihood of ~40,000 job losses for teachers and support staff
• The inability of overcrowded state schools, in many areas, to accept even a small number of extra pupils, which you have all helped us demonstrate (and please keep it up!)

We also asked for a full, dynamic impact assessment and cost/benefit analysis of the overall economics, and also of the specific effects such as SEN, military families, faith schools and harms to culture / heritage.

We sent this letter earlier this week and will keep you updated on any reply we receive. 

Following yesterday’s King’s Speech, we are currently preparing a public response to the Government on the priorities they have laid out and the implications of adding VAT to independent school fees.

We also plan to submit our petition in September, after the new Parliament returns from the summer recess.  Watch this space for more updates!

Next steps - Many of you have asked us what the Education Not Taxation campaign will do next, now that the election is behind us and a new Government is in power. Our aim remains the same:  To persuade policymakers of the harms to all children of imposing VAT on independent school fees.  We all support improving state education but the Government must (and can) #FindABetterWay

Your involvement in this campaign is now more important than ever to ensure our voices and stories are heard.  Please do the following, as soon as possible:

1. Share this petition far and wide, and not just with independent school parents. This policy will affect children in state schools too, with the potential for larger class sizes and greater competition for places (e.g. in Reception, Year 7, A-levels and grammar schools).  
   
   
2. If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to map who your new/re-elected MP is, along with any personal/local information which may help ENT’s political mapping and share it with us. You can post it in the Facebook group or email us on mail@educationnottaxation.org.
   
   
3. Make sure your MP understands that you are concerned not only on behalf of your children but also about harms to others including state schools.  Urge them to insist on a dynamic impact assessment from the OBR, and to ensure that the Government listens to the voices of parents whose children could be forced from their schools.
   
   There are good resources and discussion points on our Facebook group.  Now is the perfect time to write to your MP or, better still, contact your MP’s office and ask to meet them during their weekly surgery (typically on Fridays). You can write to them or ring their constituency office.   You can find details about your MP here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP.  
4. Follow us on social media and join in the conversation, civilly and politely. You can follow us on X/Twitter on @EducationNotTax or on Instagram at @education_not_taxation  Parents and supporters can also join us on our Facebook page.

Thank you all for the enthusiastic support you have shown and we look forward to sharing further updates with you soon!

Tony Perry

Education Not Taxation