Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the (a) effectiveness of the processes put in place by HMRC to register private schools for VAT and (b) adequacy of the time taken for those schools to receive a VAT number.

The government is committed to supporting private schools to ensure that the VAT registration process is as smooth as possible for them, and to ensuring they have the necessary support in order to be able to correctly charge VAT and remit it to HMRC.

HMRC has put in place additional resource to process VAT registrations and, on 10 October, published bespoke guidance for schools, which can be found on GOV.UK. HMRC published initial guidance ahead of the Budget to maximise the amount of time schools had to prepare for this policy taking effect.

Currently more than 80% of VAT registration applications are being processed within 20 working days, exceeding HMRC’s published service standard of 80% within 40 working days

HMRC has also hosted online webinars to answer any queries that schools may have and can be contacted via a dedicated mailbox in the event of any technical queries about registering.