SNP’s £5million tax raid on private schools ‘will push up fees and cut bursaries’
PRIVATE schools face being forced to hike fees and cut bursary places after the SNP confirmed it will press ahead with plans for a £5million tax grab.
The Scottish Government yesterday published a consultation on changes to the business rates system which will strip independent schools of the right to use charitable status to claim relief on the tax.
This will see them pay £5million a year in non-domestic rates, with concerns this could see fees rise forcing parents to take their children out of school.
Others could be turned away due to a drop in funding for bursaries and paid-for-places.
The Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS) had urged Finance Secretary Derek Mackay to scrap his plans to force schools to pay rates – but it has been confirmed he has rejected their plea.
Yesterday the Scottish Conservatives claimed that ministers could now face a legal challenge over the decision.
Scottish Tory education spokesman Liz Smith said: ‘The Scottish Government has not thought this through. Its proposals neither make financial nor educational sense and has almost certainly opened up the possibility of a legal challenge.’
The consultation states that the Scottish Government ‘will remove charity relief for most independent schools from April 2020 to bring independent schools into line with council schools’.
This will see schools such as Prince Charles’s alma mater Gordonstoun, George Watson’s College and Fettes College pay business rates.
The SCIS has warned that the changes will put schools at a ‘competitive disadvantage’ to those elsewhere in the UK.
It has so far refused to rule out taking legal action against the Government in an attempt to reverse the decision, which was made by Mr Mackay following the Barclay Review of business rates.
Director John Edward said: ‘The Government’s consultation claims it helps make Scotland the most attractive place for doing business in Europe, while putting some of Scotland’s most successful and historic educational not-for-profit institutions at a competitive disadvantage to the rest of the UK.’
Mr Edward also criticised the SNP for failing to ‘differentiate’ between schools.
He said the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) gave independent schools charitable status because of all the work they do – but the Government insists private schools should be the exact same as public schools when it comes to rates.
Mr Edward said: ‘It is disappointing that the Government’s own Impact Assessment was incapable of doing the same.’
He added: ‘The expanded contribution of means-tested fee assistance and the often overlooked provision of arts, sports and academic provision to large parts of local communities is completely disregarded. All of that provision will now be subject to the same five-fold increase in business rates – which will in no way help the attainments, skills and health of Scotland’s children.
‘The consultation insists on comparing independent schools with local authority schools. State schools do not have to make allowance out of their budgets for a paper-based rates valuation.
‘Every penny spent on state schools is every taxpayer’s money, every penny spent in independent schools comes from parents, after they have paid that same tax.’
But ministers have said that in ‘exceptional circumstances’, such as specialist music schools, could keep the right to claim relief.
Changes to business rates follow the Barclay Review led by former RBS chief Ken Barclay, which will see an overhaul of the system with more regular revaluations.
Launching the consultation, Mr Mackay said it ‘seeks the views of businesses and other stakeholders on proposed legislative changes we intend to bring forward to ensure we maintain a competitive advantage for ratepayers’.
A spokesman for George Watson’s College said: ‘We don’t mind being held to account, but we do object to having a political decision made ignoring the fact of the benefits we provide.
‘I can’t for the life of me understand why profit-making nurseries are getting 100 per cent rates relief, but nurseries attached to our school will not.’
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