Education secretary says private schools to blame for closures – not VAT policy
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The education secretary has said private schools have themselves to blame for closures – not the government’s VAT policy.
Bridget Phillipson said some private schools have failed to balance their books over a number of years as she denied they had closed because the government is making them pay 20% VAT on fees from January.
Two schools in Scotland, Kilgraston and Cedars, this week became the first to close since Labour came into power, citing the uncertainty over the policy as part of their reasons.
But Ms Phillipson dismissed that, telling Sky News: “I think what we’ve seen is that private schools are businesses that can make choices about how they manage their budgets, the level of fees that they charge.
“Ultimately it’s about how attractive they are to families in terms of the numbers of students that are sent there.
“We have seen private schools in recent years whack up their fees year on year, way beyond inflation, and that has priced out lots of people.
“And I think what we’ve seen with some of the examples that are being discussed are schools that were already experiencing big budget shortfalls, weren’t attracting the same numbers of students that they might like to attract.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said before the election in July there is “no evidence” private schools will be forced to close due to having to pay VAT.
Ms Phillipson said the VAT plans are about “driving high standards in our state schools”, with the money raised aimed at hiring 6,500 extra state school teachers.
The education secretary added that she wants private schools “to be an option” and said parents” will be able to continue” to send their children to them.
“But I would just gently point out that 93% of children in our country go to a state school,” she said.
“That’s where I’m determined to focus my efforts as secretary of state to tackle some of those big gaps that we see opening up where it comes to outcomes for our young people, making sure that the background that you’re from, the town that you’re born, doesn’t determine what you can go on to achieve.”
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Kilgraston School in Perthshire, Scotland’s only Catholic boarding school, closed “with immediate effect” on Tuesday as it said a planned sale had fallen through after the proposed buyer “reassessed its commitment”.
Last year, the 94-year-old school raised £1.2m from parents within 48 hours after it warned it may have to close due to a £2m funding gap.
It needed 210 students to break even but just 173 pupils were registered this year.
Cedars School in Greenock said it will close in September as it only has 76 pupils, despite a maximum capacity of 120.
It had also increased fees by 10% and the VAT levy would have pushed costs even higher, a school spokesman said.
