Parents say they will be forced to work longer hours and take on second jobs to afford Labour’s VAT raid on private school fees.
It comes as tens of thousands pledged support for a campaign against Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to charge 20 per cent VAT on fees.
They are calling on the party to consider the impact the policy will have on hardworking parents. Some have started looking for second jobs while others fear rising fees mean they will be forced into the state sector, it can be revealed.
It is spearheaded by Tony Perry, 46, a NHS data analyst, who launched the campaign alongside dozens of parents at LVS Ascot, an independent day and boarding school in Berkshire, yesterday.
The campaign is spearheaded by Tony Perry, 46, an NHS data analyst, who launched the campaign alongside dozens of parents at LVS Ascot
Parents who have joined the campaign parents Sarah Walker, Barbora Cruickshauk and husband Joseph (L-R)
One of the parents meetings to discuss the VAT hike. More than 61,000 people have signed the petition calling on Labour to scrap the policy
He told the Mail he and his wife had lost sleep over the planned VAT hike, which he fears will make fees too expensive and force his son out of the private sector.
He said: ‘We’ve both been up more than once and we have had more than one conversation. We are working flat out both of us in our jobs and doing whatever we can to try to make things work and just brace for the storm.
‘We’re already working flat out and it’s taking away time from our kids and being able to just step back and that causes strain at home.
‘When you’re making such a fundamental policy you cannot do it without listening to the people affected and what I would also say, if Labour have been listening to business leaders and others… please do the same with parents.’
More than 61,000 people have signed the petition calling on Labour to scrap the policy.
The party has U-turned on plans to abolish the charitable status of private schools but insisted it would still add VAT to fees. The policy could hit families with charges from as early as next September, pushing some 90,000 youngsters into the state sector.
Labour, citing a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank, believes changes to the tax rules could raise as much as £1.5billion per year.
Joseph Cruickshank, 60, who has two children at LVS Ascot with his wife Barbora, vowed to work ‘long hours’ to keep them there but feared the policy could make fees too expensive.
He said: ‘I see it as the politics of envy. It just seems like they’re trying to do something like ‘let’s punish the rich’ not taking into account the fact that not everybody is rich.
‘It’s a very big concern. I will do my very best to keep them here, working longer hours… but it may become where I can’t keep them here.’
He was joined by fellow parent Sarah Walker, as well as Eben Bergh, 43, whose son also attends the school.
Sarah Walker, a parent who has joined the campaign. The Labour party has U-turned on plans to abolish the charitable status of private schools but insisted it would still add VAT to fees
Parents at the meeting. One parent claimed they were now searching for a second job
Mr Bergh said he was searching for a second job in a bid to afford the tax hike.
His ten-year-old was moved to the private school after repeated bullying. Since relocating, he has become a ‘completely different child’, Mr Bergh said.
He added: ‘We are looking now at getting different jobs because we won’t be able to afford it if the VAT comes in.
‘I’m looking at Fiverr [a website connecting businesses with freelance workers], doing things like that because we just wouldn’t be able to afford it.’ Christine Cunniffe, school principal at LVS Ascot, where junior day pupil fees cost around £15,000 a year, said she feared children would be displaced.
She added: ‘We’re doing the calculations behind the scenes, but obviously, until we get the ins and outs no one can actually do some solid planning.
‘From a principal’s point of view, I’m afraid of children being displaced, for their own well-being and educational future.’ She added that ‘the biggest schools that can absorb costs will remain. The social divide will become wider. It won’t get rid of the problem and I find it very worrying that we’d have leaders in place who can behave in that way.’
Independent schools are supporting more than 160,000 pupils as part of a soaring rise in bursaries and scholarships, figures show.
It has been driven by an increase in means-tested funding for the poorest pupils, with £494million handed out this year to struggling families.
The Independent Schools Council (ISC), which represents 1,300 schools, has warned the extra financial burden of VAT could impact institutions’ ability to help fund places for poorer pupils.
Labour was contacted for comment last night.