House of Commons – Oct. 8, 2024 – 16

I beg to move, That this House regrets that the Government has decided to impose VAT on independent school fees;

believes that educational provision should not be taxed;

regrets that the Government is rushing to implement this change part-way through an academic year;

calls on the Government to exempt from the VAT charge fees paid in respect of children of military and diplomatic families, all children who have an Education, Health and Care Plan, or who are in the process of applying for one, all children on SEN support, Centres for Advanced Training and schools in the Music and Dance Scheme, all children at schools whose fees are lower than the average per capita funding for a state school place, and children at religious schools of denominations for whom there is no faith school provision in the state sector;

further calls on the Government to postpone imposition of the VAT charge for schools in areas where state schools in the relevant key stage are already on average over 95% full;

also calls on the Government to postpone imposition of the VAT charge for fees paid in respect of children who have started a public examination course, to September 2025 for pupils currently in Year 11 or Year 13, and to September 2026 for pupils currently in Year 10 or Year 12;

and calls on the Government to publish a full impact assessment of the effects of this policy on independent schools and the state sector ahead of the Budget.