Private colleges warned to not flip backs on communities over Labour VAT plan

Posh private schools must keep community outreach schemes going after they start paying VAT on fees, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson warned.

It follows reports some private schools are looking to cut back on bursaries for poor children, and may raise the cost of using facilities such as swimming pools in response to the Government’s VAT increase. But the Education Secretary hit back at the concerns raised by headteachers.

“I don’t accept that,” she told Times Radio. The Education Secretary said: “Some of them have got very large incomes and actually a relatively small percentage of that income going towards bursaries.”

She added: “That list in the Sunday Times had some very wealthy schools with significant assets and big levels of income who aren’t putting a huge amount of that money towards bursaries and support in terms of partnership working with the state sector.

“Changes around VAT should not and must not impact on the work that they are doing around bursaries. There is an expectation of course that that would continue.” From January, the Government plans to remove the VAT exemption and business rates relief for private schools to enable funding for 6,500 new teachers in state schools.

MPs have previously raised concerns that the extra cost could lead parents to withdraw their children from the private sector, and place more pressure on state schools.