Military families will be priced out of private schools under Labour

Military families face being priced out of private schools or forced to leave the Armed Forces altogether by Labour’s proposed tax raid, schools have warned.

Approximately 4,200 children of service personnel currently receive taxpayer support to attend boarding school while their parents are posted overseas or in frequently changing roles.

Under the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) scheme, families have to pay at least 10 per cent of the fees themselves, but often more.

The independent sector had already warned that the allowance had not grown in line with school fees in recent years, putting more pressure on the budgets of service personnel.

Now they have said that Labour’s plan to force private schools to pay an extra 20 per cent in VAT tax would effectively render them unaffordable for these families, in turn making a military career “less attractive” because of the disruption caused to their children’s education.

It comes as the Armed Forces are already battling a recruitment crisis just as the Government pledged to increase Britain’s defence spending as a proportion of GDP to 2.5 per cent by 2030 in order to meet the rising threat of Russia and others.

Typically, Armed Forces families will have to move house every two to four years, even without operational deployments.

The CEA allowance is also available to some diplomatic families, with more than 500 currently receiving support.

Last week, Sir Keir Starmer, promised to roll out the VAT policy “straight away” if he wins the election, despite having published virtually no detail on how it would work.

The Independent Schools Council on Wednesday called for Labour to allow children of military and diplomatic families to be exempt from the policy.

They also want to see full impact assessments to examine its unintended consequences.

The organisation said: “We urge Labour to not make becoming a service member or diplomat less attractive by making it harder for parents to educate their children in a stable environment.”

Meanwhile, Harriet Langdale, director of admissions at Ampleforth College in Yorkshire, said: “Over recent years, the CEA has not risen in line with school fees and there is evidence that service personnel are already feeling the pinch.

“More army families in particular are now leaving one parent behind in the UK so the children can go to local day schools instead.

“If VAT is imposed, this will price many more out of boarding and force families instead to be separated. At a time when the army is finding it hard to recruit, this policy will only make it harder to attract, properly train, and retain staff.”

More than £84.5 million was provided to parents on CEA in the 2022-23 financial year.

The allowance is available to all ranks, with sergeants taking advantage of it more than any other rank among non-officers.

Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, has previously suggested that Armed Forces personnel could be exempt.

In January she said: “There are ways in which they [armed forces] can be carefully drawn to ensure that exemptions apply.”

However, Labour has given no concrete details about any exemptions, or exactly when the tax would start to be imposed.

It has left private schools unable to properly plan their budgets.

Special needs schools are particularly concerned, with fears of more than 100,000 special educational needs and disabilities children being unfairly taxed under the policy.

Independent heads have warned that already struggling smaller schools will close as a result of the 20 per cent tax raid.

Labour was approached for comment on Wednesday.