Public schools should admit pupils in care to keep tax breaks

EVERY public school should take up to five children out of care to stop a Jeremy Corbyn government abolishing their tax breaks, the schools minister has said.

Nadhim Zahawi told The Daily Telegraph that he wants to “get between two and five kids in every independent school in the country”.

He also hopes to expand the Boarding Schools Partnership, which already offers places to children who are in the care of local authorities, to as many as 1,000 private schools.

A trial scheme in Norfolk, where 60 per cent of the fees are paid by local authorities, has seen 52 vulnerable or “at risk” children placed in boarding schools over a 10-year period.

Public schools, most of which have charitable status, have long feared that a future Labour government might try to take away their tax breaks, such as relief from VAT and business rates.

Mr Zahawi claimed earlier this year that the party “would never be able to abolish” private schools if they helped to improve the life chances of vulnerable children.

Last week Mr Zahawi unveiled a plan to encourage large companies to employ some of the 74,000 children in care when they reach the age of 18.

More than 50 businesses, charities and every government department in England have signed up to the Care Leaver Covenant, which commits to provide work-based opportunities to young people leaving the care system.

Mr Zahawi added: “My message [to public schools] is you can do something really great by helping me with these kids who are clearly vulnerable, that have been traumatised.

“Come and help me do this – because imagine a world where you are knitted into the fabric of society – doing some really great work for the schools themselves. Mr Corbyn then has to make a decision – does he want to hurt really good schools that are doing great work with some of the most vulnerable kids in our society.”

The MP for Stratford-on-avon said the schools had to consider the students’ pastoral care, adding: “If I can

‘We can change the social fabric of this country by showing these children some fantastic opportunities’

create a portfolio of opportunities for these kids then we have a greater chance of helping them.”

Mr Zahawi insisted he wanted the country’s “very strong independent school sector to feel they are with us on this journey to help the most vulnerable kids in our society”.

He said: “Think about this as a parent – we are all of us, including the independent sector, the corporate parent for these kids, the baton of parenting has been handed to us.

“If we think ‘what would you do if that were your kid’ it is not beyond us to deliver a far better outcome for them and for society. We can really change the social fabric of this country if you get these looked-after children and show them that there is a fantastic opportunity in life.”