Dame Caroline Dinenage has expressed concern that Labour’s Education Tax will disproportionately harm children with SEND in Gosport, Lee on the Solent, Stubbington and Hill Head.
From January a 20% tax will be introduced for all independent schools, the first time education has been taxed since the introduction of VAT in 1973.
New data suggests that parents of 307 children in the Gosport Constituency will be subject to this new tax, whilst more than 100,000 special educational needs and disabilities children across the country are expected to be unfairly taxed under the policy.
Parents of children who have SEND, who have scraped together enough money to pay for the right educational setting for their child by sacrificing luxuries elsewhere, will likely see those efforts go up in flames as tax rises are passed on to feepayers.
Caroline’s concern for those children was echoed by the chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, who said that “many across education have raised [concerns], particularly the effect their policy would have on children in smaller schools, in faith schools, children on bursaries, and pupils with special educational needs."
Meanwhile, the disastrous policy is expected to make a military career ‘less attractive’, as service personnel find the Continuity of Education Allowance does not cover fee rises. Under the CEA scheme families have to pay at least 10 percent of fees themselves, but this has not kept pace with the rate of school fees rises.
The policy, credited with the closure of nine independent schools already since its announcement, is expected to cost the British taxpayer £1.6 billion a year.
However, the Government has produced no impact assessment to suggest either how much money they expect this tax to raise or the groups of people it might disproportionately effect – yet they are still rushing ahead to introduce this tax part way through this academic year.
Anticipating struggles for many families in Gosport, Caroline said:
“My inbox has been full of parents who are concerned about the detrimental impact of this policy on their children. These are not wealthy parents, but those who have scrimped and save to make sure their child’s educational setting was the right one for them.
“The effect on a neurodivergent child of being in the wrong education setting can be devastating. Parents of children with SEND are concerned that mainstream education will lead to their children regressing and disengaging from education.
“But by pricing those parents out of specialised independent schools, that is exactly what these Labour VAT proposals will cause to happen.”
Commenting, Shadow Education Secretary Damian Hinds said:
“All education and training provision is exempt from VAT. Labour’s Education Tax is a worrying development that could be a slippery slope. We are against this retrograde step.
“The impact of the Education Tax could see thousands of pupils move to state schools, increasing class sizes and disruption for teachers and pupils, increasing costs for the taxpayer and ultimately making it less likely that parents will secure a place at their preferred choice of school. Labour have said the prospect of larger class sizes in the state sector is “fine”; we disagree.”
ENDS
For more information contact [email protected]
