A prominent London headteacher has told how “private school families” facing higher fees due to the imposition of VAT on them are coming to look at her state school for the first time.
Katharine Birbalsingh, headteacher at Michaela Community School in Wembley, said it was a “very strange” development as it had “never happened before”.
She also questioned whether the controversial policy would raise any funds for the Treasury to improve education in the state sector.
Ministers have now admitted that putting VAT on private school fees will see more pupils in the state sector, though, they insist the change will be very small.
London, given the high number of private schools including faith, special educational needs and bilingual ones, is expected to be one of the regions hardest hit by the reform.
Asked if she had noticed new interest in her school from families who may have previously considered seeking a private education, Ms Birbalsingh told Times Radio: “Absolutely. We have an open evening that happens every year,
“I had one a couple of weeks ago for the year six families, and for the first time we had all these private school families coming in looking at the school.
“It was very strange because that’s never happened before.
“I suspect it’s because of the VAT situation where families are now beginning to think, well they can’t necessarily afford the fees of the private schools.”
She added: “And so it will mean more children then in the state sector, and then government will need to find the money to fund that. And the small amount of money, I would argue, that would be saved from the VAT issue will not be able to make up for the amount of children then coming into the state sector.”
Ministers are arguing that most private schools will be able to keep fee increases affordable for parents by absorbing a “significant proportion” of new VAT charges.
In a Commons debate earlier this month, Treasury minister James Murray defended the proposal to remove the VAT exemption and business rates relief for private schools from January to enable funding for 6,500 new teachers in state schools.
He said some schools have committed to absorbing the VAT liability entirely, while others are capping fee increases at 5 per cent or 10 per cent.
But shadow education secretary Damian Hinds labelled the move as “destructive, disruptive and divisive”.
He has also urged the Government to publish a full impact assessment to show the effects of the reform on independent schools and the state sector, which it has so far refused to do.
