Hi All,
The High Court heard from both parents and the Independent Schools Council today, and Mr Justice Chamberlain, the judge, agreed this case should be fast-tracked. This means that the Government has until 21 February to serve its detailed response to questions raised. It also means that our concerns have legal merit.
The case will be heard in the first half of April. You can find an update on the link below to the Education Not Taxation site (we can't link directly to the CrowdJustice website):
https://educationnottaxation.org/legal/
This is our chance to fight this tax. If you haven't already, please donate and support the parents fighting on behalf of us all. They'll need all the help they can get.
Some parents have asked why the parent-led campaign focused on SEND, and whether this is really for all children. SEND children do face a disproportionate harm from this policy, but the Government concedes a wider point: If the Government exempts all SEND children, the entire policy falls apart.
They write in the Commons Library Research Briefing (page 34):
"Both for fairness reasons and to protect Exchequer revenue, the government
deems it important for preferential VAT treatment to be tied to a formal,
independent assessment that a child’s needs cannot be met in the state
sector. Carving all children with SEND out of this policy would carry a
significant cost, and therefore undermine the government’s ability to improve
education for the 94 per cent of school children in the UK that attend state
schools, including for the over 1 million children in the state sector with
SEND."
Their fight is all of our fight. This is for our children, their schools and, ultimately, education for every child.
You can find more about the Court's decision in this piece in The Telegraph:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/high-court-fast-tracks-legal-challenge-against-labours-vat/
Thank you all for your support! Rest assured this fight continues and we'll have more news for you soon.
Tony Perry
Education Not Taxation