Catholic church denounces Labour’s private school VAT raid

Labour’s controversial imposition of VAT on private school fees has drawn the ire of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, which has said the policy is disruptive to children whose parents can not afford to pay school fees.

Children with special educational needs or disabilities have been particularly affected as they are sometimes sent to small private faith schools as a consequence of the lower fees and good pastoral care.

According to The Telegraph, of fifty private schools which have closed down as a consequence of the VAT policy, around 20 per cent were Catholic, impacting over 2,000 children.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Paul Barber, director of the Catholic Education Service, said, “Most Catholic independent schools are small, with fewer than 400 pupils. They have historically been run as inclusively as possible, as charities, charging lower fees, and offering a greater quantity of upper value bursaries than elsewhere.

“But the mix of the pandemic, VAT on fees, business tax, rising costs, in addition to declining birth rates means the variety of these schools in England has reduced by almost a 3rd up to now six years, from 116 in 2019 to only 79 today.”

One of the Catholic schools closed because of this of Labour’s policy was St Joseph’s Preparatory School, in Stoke-on-Trent. The school charged as much as £3,415 per term, which is around half the common of a British private school. The school’s former headmistress, Roisin Maguire, said that Labour’s policy had effectively priced the working classes out of the private education market.

In August it was announced that the King Alfred, a Christian, although not Catholic school, would even be closing down because of this of the imposition of VAT. Its headteacher and founder Tom Bowen hopes that the varsity could reopen in the longer term under “a less hostile government”.

The government’s policy has been challenged within the courts by a coalition of Christian schools and oldsters of kids with special educational needs. They claimed the policy is discriminatory towards children with disabilities. Although defeated within the High Court, an appeal is underway supported by the Christian Legal Centre.