Private Education: VAT

(asked on 3rd September 2024) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential impact of applying VAT to private school fees on local sports clubs.


Answered by
James Murray Portrait
James Murray
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 9th September 2024

The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education, which is why we have made the tough decision to end tax breaks for private schools. This will raise revenue for essential public services, including investing in the state education system


This VAT change will not impact pupils with most acute additional needs where these can only be met in private schools, as determined by an Education and Health Care Plan in England, and equivalent processes in other nations.

Where pupils are placed in a private school because their needs cannot be met in the state sector, and they have their places funded by their Local Authority, the Local Authority will be able to reclaim the VAT they incur on these pupils’ fees. In Northern Ireland, it will be the Education Authority who fund placements in private schools and will be able to reclaim the VAT in this way.

The government will publish a Tax Information and Impact Note setting out the impacts of the changes, including the equalities impacts, alongside the Finance Bill.

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