Independent Schools: VAT

Lord Davies of Gower Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Gower (Con)]

My Lords, the limited warning and the unworkable timings of a school holiday deadline mean that smaller schools without large accounts teams and in-house expertise will struggle to make the required changes in time, and it is unfair to give schools and parents such little time to digest this.

What about the child who has to leave a school where they were happy and thriving, and where that child has a supportive network of friends? The mental health crisis for young people resulting from the pandemic should be a reminder that young people are vulnerable to change. Each of the children leaving a school that they love is an individual, not a statistic, whose day-to-day life has been upended with virtually no warning. These children are the voiceless victims of the policy.

What plans do the Government have to support children going through this change? I would be very interested to know what the Minister has to say. The focus should be on bringing the whole education sector together. One suggestion put to me by a leading independent school was that, rather than VAT, why do the Government say that they expect independent schools to show that 20% of revenue goes into supporting means-tested bursaries and partnerships? If schools do not meet their target, tax them on the rest. As it stands, levying VAT is a pernicious move which will be disastrous on the whole of education.