VAT on private school fees: Report finds many Britons agree with change - and feel private schools 'unfair'

• Under a new government policy, private schools are now being charged VAT on fees
• Many have responded by increasing how much parents pay
• The Labour policy has faced fierce opposition from some corners, even as the party says the extra money will benefit state schools
• But polling suggests people generally support the tax, and find private schooling somewhat unfair

A controversial move to ‘close tax loopholes’ for private schools may not actually be so contentious.

From this month, January 2025, private schools are no-longer exempt from paying the standard 20% VAT (value added tax) on fees they charge, under a recent government policy. The money will be put towards improving state schools, which currently educate about 94% of the UK’s children.

Many have responded by increasing their fees, with one estimate suggesting that families will have to pay an extra £3,468 per year on average. Naturally the move has attracted criticism from those with children in private education. Tens of thousands of families may be priced out, while military families and those with a child with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) have also raised concerns about what it will mean for them.

But a new report from the Private Education Policy Forum (PEPF) suggests the levy might not actually be that unpopular with the general public. A survey carried out on behalf of the independent schooling thinktank polled a representative sample of more than 2,000 adults, asking whether they agreed or disagreed with private schools being charged VAT on fees.

Overall, 54% of respondents agreed with the policy change - 33% of them strongly - compared to 21% who disagreed with it. On top of that, the survey hinted at widespread concern about fairness in the private school system. Asked whether they thought it was unfair that people with more money got a better education and life chances for their children by paying for private school, about 57% agreed - while nearly 22% disagreed that it was unfair.

There was also general support for a social mixing policy, with about 49% agreeing that the government should make private schools offer a quarter of their places for free to local children, reimbursing them what it costs to educate a child in a state school. “While proposals for such a strategy have yet to be formulated, it seems that there already exists something of an appetite among the public for serious reform,” PEPF wrote.

“Private schools are expected to remain resilient in the face of the VAT policy and this lesser change, as they have done to other challenges many times in the past,” the report concluded. “After the dust has settled, PEPF believes the best response from private school leaders will not be to double down in opposition to the policy reality, given the state of public opinion.

“Instead, they could enter constructively into the debate as to how private schools, large and small, might in time be transformed, so as to begin to open up their doors to a wider social mix of the population.”

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A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recently said that the policy would benefit the middle classes, the Independent reports. “The additional investment that we’re able to make into our state schools will drive up standards... By ending this VAT break for private schools, it means an additional £1.7 billion of investment into our state schools where 94% of this country’s children are educated. It’s the right thing to do. It means more teachers. It means higher standards.”

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson also recently wrote in the Telegraph that tax exemptions for private schools were a “luxury we cannot afford”. She believed that “very few families” already in private education would actually remove their children from their school because of the VAT-related fee increase.

However, the Conservatives remain steadfastly against the newly-enacted change, labelling it a “vindictive policy that will worsen the education of every single child, regardless of the school they are educated in”. A spokesperson told the BBC: “Labour's decision to tax education will mean thousands of hardworking parents will no longer be able to afford to send their children, including those with SEND, to private school.”

What do you think about the extra levies on private schools in the UK? Have your say and make your voice heard by leaving a comment below.