Private school parents can’t complain about tax on fees, says Wes Streeting
Wes Streeting has claimed that private schools and fee-paying parents “can’t complain” about the Government’s VAT raid on the sector.
The Health Secretary insisted Labour was clear about its plans long before it won the election as he defended the decision to tax private school fees from January.
During an interview with The Camilla Tominey Show on GB News, Mr Streeting was asked about the mother of an autistic girl who is bringing the first legal test case against the policy.
Alexis Quinn enrolled her 12-year-old daughter Addison at an independent school after staff at the local state school would be unable to meet her needs.
Mrs Quinn says she will not be able to afford a 20 per cent fee increase, meaning she would have to move Addison back to a state school in the middle of the academic year.
Click here to view this content.
Responding to the case, Mr Streeting said: “I’d say two things ... I’m not familiar with the specific case, but from what you’ve just described it sounds like that pupil would be entitled to an ECHP [Education, Health and Care Plan] which would then exempt them from VAT on school fees.
“The first thing to say is that there is that exemption, and that relates to the second point. This isn’t a surprise, this isn’t something that we’ve decided to do in government but wasn’t in our manifesto. We’ve been clear about this for some time now.”
Mr Streeting said his party had been “very clear” about the policy before and during the general election campaign.
“The priority for this money is to invest in the state education that benefits the 93 per cent of pupils in this country including the most vulnerable and disadvantaged,” he said.
“So that’s the thrust of the policy, that’s the Government’s agenda. It’s for the 93 per cent at state schools, not simply the 7 per cent at independent schools. And people were forewarned, so they can’t complain now.”
Last month, Eton College became the first private school to announce it would pass on the 20 per cent VAT in full to parents, meaning annual fees will rise to £63,000 in January.
The Government argues ending tax breaks on private schools will fund priorities including the recruitment of 6,500 new state school teachers.
But critics of the policy fear that the state sector will be unable to cope with an increase in demand, while analysis has suggested it could have a net cost to taxpayers of £1.8 billion.
A separate legal challenge also looms in the High Court over claims that the plans breach human rights law.
In a letter to HM Treasury, first reported by The Telegraph, lawyers argued the policy discriminates against children with special educational needs and threatened court action unless the policy was dropped.