Report suggests extra tax on parents who use private tutors

WEALTHY families who use private tutors to help secure grammar school places should be taxed to help pay for poorer children to access the same help, academics have suggested.

The authors of a study argue that a levy should be imposed on high-income families to help level the playing field in access to selective schools. The paper, by academics at the UCL Institute of Education, examined the backgrounds of more than 1,800 children living in areas of England and Northern Ireland that have grammar schools.

It found that in England, poorer children – those from families in the bottom quarter of household incomes – had less than a 10 per cent chance of attending a grammar school, compared with a 40 per cent chance among those youngsters in the top quarter by income.

The study also says that in England, for each £100 increase in family income there is a six percentage point rise in the chances of a child receiving coaching for a grammar entrance test, and an extra four to five percentage point increase in private maths and English tuition – meaning the higher a family’s income, the higher a child’s likelihood of being tutored.

Just under three quarters of children in England who were tutored gained a grammar school place, compared with 14 per cent of those that were not tutored, the report found.

Professor John Jerrim, study author, said: “The Government needs to explain how they are going to level the playing field between different income groups.”

He suggests that one option may be an extra tax for those who use tutoring services.

“I would envisage this as being levied on high-income families who use these services,” Prof Jerrim said, adding it could be seen as Vat-style tax.