Starmer hails £1.7bn boost for state schools before VAT raid on private school fees comes into force
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Despite warnings from private schools over the impact of the policy, the prime minister is ploughing ahead and will charge 20 per cent VAT on independent school fees from the start of 2025. Sir Keir Starmer’s VAT raid on private schools comes into effect on Wednesday - a move the Treasury says will give state schools a £1.7bn yearly boost by the end of the decade.
![[The changes will hit private school fees from January 1, and will capture those who paid in advance from July 29 onwards]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/10/30/19/newFile.jpg)
Despite warnings from private schools over the impact of the policy, the prime minister is ploughing ahead and will charge 20 per cent VAT on independent school fees from the start of 2025. The Treasury has earmarked £2.6bn of extra funding for state schools next year to invest in improving special education provision and hire 6,500 new teachers, with £1.5bn of this coming from the policy change.
The amount raised by the move will increase to £1.7bn each year by 2029/30, it added. But private school leaders have warned the combination of tax hikes in the Budget and the removal of their charitable status, which saw fees exempted from VAT, could lead the sector to “fall apart”.
They have also argued that the hike in school fees as a result of the policies will force more children into the state sector, overwhelming already stretched schools and wiping out any gains to the public finances. And, ahead of the policy coming into force, Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Munira Wilson said: “Students and teachers across our education system are crying out for support, but we’ve been clear the Government’s decision to tax education is the wrong approach.
