Labour vows tax raid before new term

looking at our finances to see if there is any kind of buffer we can build in to meet parents halfway but it is going to be tough. I’m really hoping they [Labour] will see sense and realise it’s actually going to cost the Government long term.”

Last week, The Telegraph revealed that Labour’s proposed VAT raid was likely to have cost the taxpayer approximately £22million already, after the Independent Schools Council revealed that nearly 3,000 fewer pupils started at private schools this academic year compared with 12 months earlier.

The Independent Schools Council, the umbrella body for the sector, has previously forecast that 10 per cent of pupils could be forced out of private schools within a year of the tax being imposed.

Loveena Tandon, who has two sons in private school and helps run a grassroots parents’ campaign called Education not Taxation, said the group’s petition calling on Labour to scrap the VAT hike had garnered an extra 2,000 signatures in the 24 hours since Mr Sunak called the election.

Ms Tandon, whose children attend private schools in London and Surrey, has calculated a 20 per cent rise in fees

‘I’m hoping Labour will see sense and realise it’s actually going to cost them over the long term’

will leave her having to find £14,000 per term. “A lot of parents are already inquiring about state schools. Everyone is doing whatever they can but the bottom line is a big chunk of parents cannot afford this,” she said.

Mr Eliott Lockhart said there was particular uncertainty among schools providing significant special educational needs provision.

Labour had suggested that such schools might be exempt from the tax, but a more recent speech suggested that it would be only pupils formally diagnosed as SEN that would be exempt.

However, pupils with an Education,

Health and Care plan (EHCP) are thought to represent as little as 30 per cent of those in receipt of SEN provision. “If these schools are put out of business because the pupils who aren’t on EHCPs have parents who can no longer afford the fees, it doesn’t exactly do any good for the pupils who are on EHCPs,” he said.

David Woodgate, the chief executive of the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association, which represented 1,100 private schools, criticised Labour’s costing of the policy. He argued the party has not taken into consideration the cost to the state if tens of thousands

‘Everyone is doing whatever they can but a big chunk of parents cannot afford this’

of private school pupils are moved to the state sector. Labour was approached for comment.

Meanwhile British private schools are increasingly looking overseas to boost their income, with many opening international campuses. Uppingham is expected to unveil a 10-acre campus in Cairo this September, and Dulwich College, Harrow and Shrewsbury are among the schools with branches in the Middle East and South-East Asia.

Last week a delegation from Saudi Arabia came to London to talk about Britain’s schools and universities and the possibility of new partnerships.