Private school group to launch legal action over Government’s VAT plan on fees
Members of the Independent Schools Council board voted to take action after the policy was confirmed in the Budget.
A group representing more than 1,400 private schools will launch legal action against the Government’s decision to apply VAT to independent school fees.
The Independent Schools Council (ISC), an umbrella body for seven associations representing private schools in the UK and abroad, is pressing ahead with the plans after the board voted in favour of a legal challenge.
Human rights barrister Lord David Pannick KC will lead the action for the ISC, working alongside Paul Luckhurst from Blackstone Chambers and legal firm Kingsley Napley.
A pre-action letter about plans for High Court action will be issued to the Government shortly.
It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed plans to impose 20% VAT on private schools from January in her Budget on Wednesday.
The Government has estimated the policy would raise £460m next year, rising to £1.7bn by 2029/30.
Members of the ISC board voted to take forward legal action at a meeting on Thursday.
Julie Robinson, chief executive of ISC, said: “This is a decision that has not been taken lightly and has been under consideration for many months.
“At all points throughout this debate, our focus has been on the children in our schools who would be negatively impacted by this policy.
“This focus remains and we will be defending the rights of families who have chosen independent education, but who may no longer be able to do so as a direct result of an unprecedented education tax.”
On average, the Government expects private school fees to increase by around 10% as a result of the introduction of VAT, according to a policy paper released on Wednesday.
The Government has predicted that 35,000 pupils will move into UK state schools “in the long-term steady state” following the VAT policy in January.
A further 2,000 children will leave private schools, consisting of international pupils who do not move into the UK state system or domestic pupils who move into homeschooling.
A total of 37,000 pupils leaving or never entering the sector equates to around 6% of the current private school population, the Government has said.
On Wednesday, the Government said it would increase the funding allocated to the continuity of education allowance (CEA), which supports mobile military and diplomatic families with boarding school fees for their children, ahead of imposing VAT on private schools next year.
It came after warnings from staff they could quit the armed forces if they were not given help ahead of the VAT changes.
But the ISC remains concerned about the impact of the VAT policy on small faith schools, specialist arts and music provision, and on thousands of children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in private schools.
The ISC has said the legal case will focus around claims of breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998.
It will be separate from other litigation but the ISC will be liaising with these other third-party groups.
A HM Treasury spokesperson said: “We do not comment on potential litigation matters”.
