I had known 鈥 or at least strongly suspected 鈥 ahead of the General Election that the Conservatives were heading for a very heavy defeat and I would therefore lose my place as an MP.
Even so, that knowledge was only a partial preparation for actually experiencing it. Similarly, although some independent schools have had something of a 鈥渞abbit in the headlights鈥 experience with the imposition of VAT on school fees, many more had made plans in order to prepare for it. But, again, knowing it is coming and experiencing it are not the same.
I had been saying for years as chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Independent Education that the imposition of VAT upon fees should be at the very top of every independent school鈥檚 risk register. How to avoid a MRDA () with this assertion was a challenge. It was reasonable to suppose a Conservative politician “would say that, wouldn鈥檛 he?”
In the seven years of the APPG I had never been able to get a single Labour MP to join it.
But my confidence that this was going to happen and in a 鈥榝ull fat鈥 way 鈥 went far beyond simple politicking. In the seven years of the APPG I had never been able to get a single Labour MP to join it and, at the annual Parliamentary launch of the Celebrating Partnerships booklet, Labour MPs were always as rare as hens鈥 teeth.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines “visceral” as “based on deep feeling and emotional reactions rather than on reason or thought”: Labour鈥檚 attitude to independent education is a visceral one.
Appeasement is not the answer
How then should the sector react to an education secretary who not only revels in the imposition of VAT, but threatens the sector with further penalties were they to curtail their partnership and outreach work as a result of her actions?
We need to avoid thinking that it will help us if we do as much of the Government鈥檚 bidding as possible. In January 1940 Winston Churchill said of appeasement 鈥淓ach one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last鈥. And just a few weeks ago, the head of Cottesmore School, Tom Rogerson, echoed this, saying: 鈥淧erhaps it is time to reconsider this approach and to be less apologetic about wanting to continue to exist鈥.
We need to avoid thinking that it will help us if we do as much of the Government鈥檚 bidding as possible.
Whatever you disposition, this society鈥檚 problems are mounting up at a rate that a second substantial bite at the independent education sector is unlikely. This is not for ideological reasons. Not because some in the sector are trying to demonstrate that they still want to be friends. No, it will be simply because the Government will be 鈥 and indeed already is 鈥 overwhelmed by other pressing issues.
The right thing to do
In any case, my experience of independent/state school partnerships and bursary provision is that they are not undertaken as some way of keeping government off one鈥檚 back. They are undertaken because they are the right thing to do. For independent schools that function as charities there is an obvious reason for this; even so, schools undertake such activities because they are part of their ethos and not simply because they need to tick a Charity Commission box. Non-charity schools often engage in partnership activities too for the same reasons.
Despite the worthy motivations behind outreach activity, there are still profound challenges to be faced in the fields of bursaries, partnership work and development/fundraising, due to VAT and the general economic picture.
Reduction in bursary provision
With bursaries, there will need to be a reduction of provision, even for those schools that are well-endowed. Even at Eton, a dramatic cut in the number of bursaries the school can provide, of around a third, has been announced. Other schools may be less willing to publicise their reductions, but they will clearly happen.
This is a dilemma for those using revenue funding in particular. Parents are now paying VAT on already high fees from hugely taxed income 鈥 and forgoing the state school space their taxes are paying for and are feeling more resistant to concepts of “putting something back” via a bursary levy on the said fees. Many will have reached the stage that they cannot now easily afford their own children鈥檚 independent education.
Parents are now paying VAT on already high fees from hugely taxed income.
It is only ironic in the Alanis Morisette sense of the word that VAT on fees leads to lower levels of social mobility because, although the Government tries to present the policy in terms of fairness, this is their actual intention: to make independent education more exclusive.
Not recognising the tipping point that VAT represents in terms of bursary provision versus fee levels could lead to the emphatically non-Morisettian irony of independent schools themselves deepening the elite nature of their provision through only having scholarship pupils and the children of the very wealthy. There will be no “squeezed middle” in between. For others, it may be even more stark than that.
Paring back partnerships?
The other side of the coin to bursary provision for many schools in terms of their social mission is partnership work, usually with nearby state schools. I have been inspired not only by people like Christina Astin of Astin Consulting with her monthly online partnership meetings, but also by the extensive work some schools do in this field. Gordon Montgomery at Oundle School, Simon Hinchcliffe at Bradford Grammar School and David Smith at Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne, are shining examples among many.
As with bursaries, independent schools may feel that they need to pare back the work they do in this area. But it may be possible to instead redefine what is done and to be more explicit about the benefits of partnership work to pupils at the independent school.
Development directors also face some tough and unenviable choices in the face of the Education Tax.
Sometimes, though, community benefit activities will be lost. Marlborough College鈥檚 cancelling their 2025 summer schools is an example (although the college has said they are going to redesign them for the future). However, others can simply be re-expressed. There is hard-nosed added value for fee paying parents from their children assisting with literacy and numeracy at the local primary school, as well as the obvious community benefit.
There is added value in independent education staff experiencing different teaching methods at neighbouring schools. There is also added value to the school鈥檚 marketing campaigns in such partnerships existing.
Tough and unenviable choices
Development directors also face some tough and unenviable choices in the face of the Education Tax. Just when additional support will be needed for bursaries and the need to keep fees down reduces investment in buildings, there will be less money available from former pupils and from bequests, due to Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax raids. What this emphasises is how important development work is in schools and that it is not an optional extra.
Hard-headed
I have often considered the curse of twenty-first century British life to be process. There is a temptation to regard being compliant, having policy documents with the correct titles, making sure you keep thorough records and making sure registration deadlines are met as the core functions in senior leadership and governance.
The sheer complexity of VAT has only added to the temptation to regard our roles in this way. In fact, the things we feel short of time for 鈥 inspiring creativity, passion and enthusiasm in education 鈥 are needed more than ever. But that can only happen alongside a hard-headed approach to the issues highlighted, no matter how sensitive.
This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in the latest Winter 2025 edition of Independent 黑料福利网 magazine, out now.
