-
Lots of problems with removing charitable status/VAT etc in education. Most universities are technically private education institutions, many of which offer A levels, some private schools do mini degrees, its complicated. To be consistent, are Labour going to remove benefits to universities as well?
As someone that was lucky enough to go to private school, I feel it's important to reiterate that only a handful of them are the nightmare Eton image that people usually think about private schools, most are small, relatively progressive places that don't have a tonne of money and are used by people that aren't especially wealthy or have kids that have special needs that their local state can't cover.
In terms of getting the Tories out, this is a very risky proposal by Labour.
Jameo-
I feel it's important to reiterate that only a handful of them are the nightmare Eton image that people usually think about private schools, most are small, relatively progressive places that don't have a tonne of money and are used by people that aren't especially wealthy or have kids that have special needs that their local state can't cover
lol
-
used by people that aren't especially wealthy
I love you man but if a family can afford an average £17k per year toward private education for their kids, they ARE especially wealthy. They may be making other sacrifices, and I'm not downplaying that. But if you've got £17k a year to blow, you're doing alright.
-
TBH I agree, especially at the general knee jerk to assuming all private schools = the most elite public schools
However, I'm also a bit torn as I recognise it gets a lot of air time for a tiny % of the population.
On the broader Starmer is a U-turn king point. Adding 20% to school fees which on average are already increasing 7-10% annually is a pretty massive blow to private schools. It is also low effort from a policy pov - which is what I was I was getting at about how you go about amending the Charities Act.
TBH I'd also argue that bringing in full VAT on day 1, rather than tapering it in is quite tough. If your kid is in say year 3, and you'd made the choice of stretching yourself to going private when there was no visible prospect of paying an extra 20% now being landed with it in one go means you probably have to pull your kid out at a critical school age.
andyp
ReekBlefs
hugo7
Out of curiosity would people remove the advancement of education as a charitable purpose? Or have some sort of specific carve out that only applies to private schools?