Independent Schools: VAT Exemption

Lord Kempsell Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kempsell (Con)]

My Lords, in the debate on the gracious Speech before the Summer Recess, I suggested that the Government’s proposal to impose VAT on school fees would ultimately narrow opportunities across the country rather than widen them. What I did not predict is that the Government would make such a quick success of wreaking havoc on the lives of children who are now living with uncertainty about the implementation of this measure.

I want to focus on one such group in particular: Armed Forces families. More than 4,000 military children receive support with school fees via the continuity of education allowance. From Cyprus to Sierra Leone, from South Sudan to the Falklands, the operational demands on these families have a huge impact on their education. Army families, for example, are highly mobile; they are asked to move every two years on average. They receive support so that their children can have continuity by attending boarding schools, minimising the need to constantly switch schools. That funding is capped and there is also a parental contribution, so these are not fully funded places. Of course, these families are far from wealthy, but they are highly concerned that they will be priced out by the Government’s plan.

Just last night, I received an email from a service family who described their tears of worry at the Government’s policy. It says: “My child should have stability in being able to stay in the English education system at the same school, but the Labour Government apparently wish to break their heart and soul”. I must warn Ministers that their plan is already doing damage to morale among service personnel, and that is not acceptable.

Worryingly, nearly 70% of Army families surveyed say that if there is no exemption or mitigation to cover the costs of the VAT, they would have to consider leaving the Armed Forces. With the global security situation as it is and the current operational tempo, this surely cannot be what the Government intend by this policy.

I also highlight the many self-funding Armed Forces families who do not claim the continuity of education allowance, who rely on these schools to make their role feasible—on overseas deployments there is obviously no access to alternative state provision. I asked a Written Question on this matter over the summer break and no detail has been forthcoming from Ministers. I wrote to the Treasury but have not received a reply. The school year has already started and the Government are leaving Armed Forces families in the dark. I join calls from across your Lordships’ House today for Ministers to clarify the situation for Armed Forces families. They should commit to exempt all Armed Forces families, whether in receipt of support or not, from their plan to place VAT on school fees. If the Government are not willing to do so, they should design a rebate or mitigation that means that Armed Forces families are not forced to consider whether they can continue in service. It is not sufficient, as the Treasury says in its technical notes, to wait for the spending review to evaluate the impact on military families as this is having an impact now.

As my noble friend Lord Roberts so aptly said, private school VAT will become a case study in the unintended consequences of ill-thought-out policy. Indeed, it has already been scrapped in other countries, the unintended consequences having been noted in Greece, where the policy was withdrawn. It will flood the state sector, cause successful schools to close and have a negative impact on communities. I fear that most of all it will clobber Armed Forces families, who are doing nothing other than serving their country and from whom I have had a huge number of representations.

I fear that behind this policy lies the worst kind of political grandstanding. It does not reach the standard even of sixth-form politics but feels like 1970s-style divisive class politics reheated for today, and leaves a bitter taste.

King’s Speech

Lord Kempsell Excerpts

Friday 19th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kempsell (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Ramsey of Wall Heath. I welcome the constructive tone of the debate today as we begin our work in this new Parliament. It is also a pleasure to pay tribute to my noble friend Lady Monckton of Dallington Forest for her thoughtful and excellent maiden speech and, likewise, to the Minister for her maiden speech. I associate myself too with the comments made about the valedictory remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly.

I congratulate Ministers opposite on their appointment, because the weight and responsibility of government now sit with the Labour Party. I know what it is like to work in government as a policy adviser, so I wish them the very best as they begin to feel the pressure to deliver.

There is no shortage of complexity in the issues before your Lordships’ House, but I want in my remarks to zoom out slightly and remind ourselves of the title of today’s debate, to ensure that it is properly scrutinised. On our Order Paper it says:

“Creating Opportunities: Education, Early Years and Health Care”.


If noble Lords will forgive me, I will use a phrase that is familiar to millennials like me—I think it originates from the television programme “The Simpsons”. There is a concept on that programme called “saying the quiet part out loud”. I wonder whether with the prefix to the title to this debate we may be guilty of saying the quiet part out loud—that is, by using the phrase “creating opportunities”, the Government may be suggesting subconsciously that somehow government creates the opportunities in education, early years and health.

Of course, we know that that is not fully right, because life does not work that way. As we have heard in the debate already today, many Members of your Lordships’ House are outstanding leaders of charities and in the voluntary sector. It is those organisations, and the wonderful people at the heart of them, that really create opportunities for those most in need in our country, enabling them to access the advice, support and practical training that really turns lives around. Many noble Lords are luminaries from businesses large and small; we know that it is entrepreneurs who create the chance for people to secure good jobs and provide for their families, having positive impacts on education and health outcomes. Indeed, families, faith groups and social enterprises of all kinds are the vital machinery of opportunity, whether in education, healthcare, early years, or otherwise. So I hope the Minister may reassure me that, if the Government wish to create opportunity in health, education and early years, Ministers will prevent themselves falling into the trap of believing that they can do so best from Whitehall—that they may reach out to pull levers that simply do not exist.

There are some elements of the gracious Speech that, in that vein, give me cause for concern, as has already been expressed on many sides of your Lordships’ House today. At the top of that list I would put the plan to impose VAT on independent school fees. I did not benefit from a private education but I passionately believe that we cannot create opportunity by simply narrowing or attacking the opportunities that are already enjoyed by others. If we do so, we will be failing to follow the evidence that we have to hand, and may risk wasting our time. Does the Minister really believe that we will create opportunity with this policy, which could force many fee-paying schools to reduce and even abolish their scholarship programmes, which are enjoyed by so many disadvantaged pupils—the very programmes that fund access to these excellent schools for those from less-advantaged backgrounds? Is it right to think that forcing independent schools out of business will improve access across the country to sport, music and artistic opportunities?

As I said, I believe we must instead find ways to widen existing opportunities to all. I wish the Government well in their important tasks, and with their bulging in-tray. I hope they will be a Government who focus on the priorities of people across the country, not on politics, and who seek to extend the ladder of opportunity, rather than in some ways begin to pull it up.