A coalition of Christian schools, parents and pupils has lost its legal challenge against the federal government’s imposition of 20% VAT on private school fees.
The group, supported by the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), plans to hunt permission to appeal to the Supreme Court after the case was dismissed on all grounds by the Court of Appeal on Friday.
Caroline Santer, headteacher at The King’s School, which is one in every of the faculties behind the legal challenge, said: “Christian schools like ours exist to serve communities, offering education shaped by faith and values.
“VAT is dismantling many years of careful work and putting schools on the point of closure. We will proceed to face with our families and pursue this all of the method to the Supreme Court.”
The legal challenge was brought by a gaggle that included families and other Christian schools.
They argued that the VAT policy has already forced closures and made low-cost Christian education unaffordable for a lot of families.
They further claim that the policy undermines parental rights and academic freedom by making it harder – or in some cases unimaginable – for families to access a faith-based education.
The Court of Appeal rejected all grounds of the appeal, ruling that that the federal government had an objective and reasonable justification for not exempting low-cost Christian schools from VAT.
While the judges affirmed the appropriate of oldsters to homeschool their children, they rejected claims that charging VAT breached the appropriate to education under Article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, citing a previous Supreme Court ruling that there is no such thing as a right to a selected kind or quality of education beyond that offered within the state system. The judgment also stated that there is no such thing as a legal prohibition on taxing education.
Parents and faculty leaders say that the Court of Appeal’s judgment fails to acknowledge the financial and practical realities faced by many families in search of an independent faith-based education.
They argue that many such families cannot afford the upper fees resulting from the VAT policy or the associated fee of home-educating, and warn that more Christian schools may close if the policy stays in place.
Jill Holt, headteacher of The Branch Christian School, said: “Most of our parents work full‑time and can’t home‑educate. VAT would add nearly £800 to fees, an unimaginable burden for a lot of families. This ruling places schools like ours in jeopardy.”
Yvonne Owusu‑Ansah, a mother of three, said the ruling “does nothing to alleviate the devastation already being felt by families”.
“VAT will make it unimaginable for me to maintain my children of their school. We shaped our whole lives around giving them an education rooted in Christian convictions,” she said.
“If this policy stands, I will probably be forced to home‑educate, and my children will lose the teachers, friends and environment where they’re thriving academically and spiritually.”
The coalition will now apply for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
CLC chief executive Andrea Williams called on politicians to “recognise the deep injustice of penalising parents who simply need to bless their children with a comprehensively Christian education”.
“Not everyone can home‑educate, and low‑cost Christian schools are already being forced to shut under the load of those policies,” she said.
“Through this and other measures, the federal government is making it increasingly difficult for folks to shape their children’s education. It is centralising control over education, and in doing so, exerting control over our future.
“Putting this level of power within the hands of politicians is unwise and unsafe. Everyone who understands the implications of this could oppose these punitive taxes and rise up for families who’re fighting to take care of real educational freedom.”
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