Vat On Private School Fees A Brexit Benefit

[Hymie]

I’ve found a genuine Brexit benefit at last – congrats to all you Brexiteers.

 

As my mate Phil explains; in the High Court case brought by schools (and some wealthy individuals) challenging the government’s imposition of VAT on private school fees – which would have been against rules had we remained within the EU - ha, ha, ha.

 

 

[ynnafymmi]

Woopie-doo,hymie,im not sure if there are a lot of ex-private school bods on AB.Is this a dig at Brexiteers or Remainers?

[Hymie]

If you search AB you will find any number of threads on the topic of VAT on private school fees; almost everyone decrying the move – pointing out how this policy will hit the poorest people in our society, those struggling to send their children to private schools.

[Old_Geezer]

You are quite right for once. It is a benefit to get commercial concerns to pay the correct tax instead of getting let off. May it be applied everywhere else too.

 

PS the poorest in society can't afford to stick their nose up at state education, so it's nonsense to say they will be hit. And if they ever were able to be affected it'd not be a hit, it'd be the removal of an undeserved benefit.

[barry1010]

Don't forget that some boarders at private are children of our armed forces personnel, partly funded by MOD allowances.

Will the MOD (the taxpayer) be paying the VAT or the parents? Could this encourage some to leave the armed forces?

Parents of privately educated children pay twice for education - they don't get a refund for the state school place they have freed up.  They are saving the public purse around £6k a year. To tax them is a slap in the face

[Old_Geezer]

State school classes still have to be held, so much of the cost will be sunk costs.  I'd be highly sceptical of private education users saving the public much.  As for Defense, seems to me if an employer want to attract and keep good staff it needs to offer a sufficiently attractive package.

[Massey65]

My father was in the RAF and when posted abroad we went with him.  Sometimes I went to an RAF school but a couple of times I had to go to a private school. Not sure if my parents would have been able to afford this as we were four girls.  Until my dad passed away I had a good education but then learnt next to nothing when we returned to the UK and I went to normal secondary school .  I managed to get 8 O levels only do to the education I received going to private school. I then did my A levels in college. So in my younger days if this was happening my father would have had to choose between staying in the RAF and leave the family in the UK for long periods or leave the RAF and keep the family together.

[New Judge]

I will come as no surprise when you hear that I am totally against the imposition of VAT on school fees. (In fact I’m against VAT in principle, but that’s another story). That issue, however, is not the topic of your question.

M’Learned Friends, when reaching their decision, mentioned the EU Directive on VAT on school fees quite copiously. Paras 91 to 98 of the judgement discuss this and the ECHR implications. The judgement is here (which I rely on rather than some bloke on YouTube):

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ALR-and-others-v-Chancellor-of-the-Exchequer-private-schools-VAT-judgment.pdf

Para 95 is particularly interesting:

“The fact that one of the services it requires members states to exempt from VAT is private school fees seems to us to imply nothing, one way or the other, about the breadth of the margin of appreciation applicable to a state which has decided to leave the EU so as to be able to set its own rules on matters such as these (among other reasons).”

It will come as even less of a surprise to you to learn that I would far rather be subject to legislation with which I disagree but which has been  framed and enacted by a UK government (even a Labour one) than I would legislation with which I agree but which has been cobbled together by a bunch of foreign bureaucrats.

So in para 95 M’Learned Friends have hit the nail firmly on the head and identified one of the most important reasons why many people voted to leave. In brief, what the EU does is of secondary importance. It is the fact that they can do it that is the issue.

So this decision is indeed a “Brexit Bonus.” A decision taken by a UK government, challenged in the courts and determined by a UK court.

BTW – not all parents who send their children to fee-paying schools are “rich”.