Private schools have had ‘ample time’ to prepare for tax raid, Labour says

Private schools have had “ample time to prepare” for Labour’s tax raid on fees, the Education Secretary has said as she signalled it will be rolled out earlier than planned.

Bridget Phillipson did not deny that the Government is now planning to impose VAT on fees in January next year, nine months sooner than the previously expected start date of September 2025.

There are fears the tax raid, which Labour wants to use to pay for 6,500 new teachers in state schools, will spark an exodus of pupils by pricing out parents.

“Schools should be planning for the introduction of this change, which we first set out in 2021,” Ms Phillipson told Times Radio on Monday when asked if it would be introduced next January.

“We have been clear about our position on this for some time. We do want to move as quickly as we can.”

Asked again if the start date would be January, the Education Secretary said: “We want to move as quickly as we can on this. As I say, Rachel Reeves will set out the exact timescale.

“But we first set out this policy in 2021 so I do think schools have had ample time to prepare and my priority is about making sure that we deliver a better education, more teachers and more mental health support in our state schools where 93 per cent of our children will be.”

The tax raid will be written into law in the Government’s first Budget this autumn, when the exact timings of the new policy will be confirmed.

It had been thought the extra charge would not apply to fees until the new academic year begins in September 2025.

However, it has now emerged that Labour could impose it nine months earlier.

On Sunday, one Government insider confirmed to The Telegraph that January 2025 was being considered.

“The fact the policy is coming in as soon as possible shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” the insider said. “It has got more coverage than any tax measure in history.”

The Tories warned that accelerating the tax raid would lead to a “flood of students” trying to enter the state sector after Christmas, causing “chaos”.

Damian Hinds, the shadow education secretary, said: “Labour’s education tax policy will be disastrous for pupils across the country.

“They have been warned over and over by countless experts that this policy, fuelled by misguided ideology, will lead to a flood of students leaving the private sector without any plans to accommodate them in state schools.

“And by moving up the timeline to the middle of the school year, they will only compound this chaos.

“Pupils, teachers, and schools across the country will all pay the price for this. The Conservatives will hold them to account.”

The Independent Schools Council, which represents the private school sector, also warned the plan to implement the tax in January was “unworkable”.

It said that parents who could no longer afford fees as a result of the policy would find it difficult to secure mid-year admissions to state schools for their children.

‘Detrimental’ to education

Julie Robinson, the head of the Independent Schools Council, told The Telegraph: “Any parent or school following the debate over VAT is likely to have been planning for September 2025, as that was the date being briefed until this weekend.

“The change also means the policy would take effect one academic year earlier and parents would have missed the opportunity to apply for a state school place in the normal cycle.

“Any parent who might now need to move their child faces the prospect of an in-year admission, which is more difficult to arrange and will be detrimental to their child’s education.

“Implementing the policy mid-year is unworkable for schools and for parents.”

Labour has estimated that the policy will raise £1.6 billion per year and said that private schools will be able to absorb it without passing the cost on to parents.

But The Telegraph revealed earlier this year that fee increases were being planned by almost every private school.

The £1.6 billion figure has also been called into question by critics, who warn that rising costs will force tens of thousands of pupils to leave the private sector and flood into state schools.