Life With Remote Husband

NHS worker and part-time EHO student. 2 children in private school and a husband who works away for a month at a time. Mildly interested in politics

[Life With Remote Husband @RemoteHusband]

@bentleykarl @markstretch No less well off folk subsidise any part of a child’s education in a private school. However, those that now have left private or have never started private due to extra cost of VAT, are indeed now having their state school place subsidised by the less well off.

[Isabel Paterson @IsabelPat1886]

New post on Schrodinger's schools, and why it's very easy to accommodate school closure without disruption in a market context.

With a cartoon.

https://t.co/p9aAk1hGmS

[Isabel Paterson @IsabelPat1886]

Time we said more on this.

Wanting more money for state schools, they could tap up rich users of state schools.

Or if they are "society's" schools, get everyone to chip in.

Dumb as hell to demand the sliver of society that doesn't use them, to pay yet again.

[Life With Remote Husband @RemoteHusband]

@ShakinthatChalk What point are you making that hasn’t been disproved by the comments?

[Life With Remote Husband @RemoteHusband]

@ShakinthatChalk @CharlieCrane Our local swim club is run from our LA leisure centre and the kids that compete and do well, also all swim at clubs - that are open to all. Suspect all those kids swim outside school at local clubs which are open to all

[Charles Thyme @CharlesHThyme]

The real inequality in the education system is not between state schools and independent schools, but between the best and worst state schools.

The best tenth of state schools achieve a 90.4% pass rate; the worst tenth achieve just 8.1%.

[Source: https://t.co/8SHVkxrVtF]

[Education Not Taxation @EducationNotTax]

There has been a whirlwind of developments over the past two weeks or so! From a UK Supreme Court case for parents in Christian schools to arguments for VAT (like 6,500 new teachers) crumbling to pieces, it's clear that taxing education is a bad idea.

See below for an update through @Change :
https://t.co/4Lm64NhYEr

[Chris @IrritableChris]

Their purpose is education, and they do provide it to everyone that can pay the fees.

Just like private hospitals provide their services to anyone that can afford them. They do not charge vat.

The reason is that whilst vat is a consumption tax, it is applied at the goods and services level, not based on who provides or sells the service.

If you pay for an optional school trip at state school, say an end of year celebratory trip out, this is a choice. Yet no VAT will be added.

That same trip from a private school will attract vat. Why the difference?

Your assertion that they exist for privilege and social inequality is probably quite telling of your prejudices toward these schools as they are nothing of the sort. In the area I live in the northern shires, theh serve as a choice for people who are willing and able to pay to receive the same level of results and education that millions who live in the south get for "free".

My "choice" as a parent for my children was:

1. Use the local state school with results 30% below national average, persistent truancy well above average.

2. Move home to the catchment area of a good school at the cost of about half a million quid on the mortgage

3. Pay for independent school at less than half the cost of moving home.

Am I fortunate to have options 2 and 3 compared to other parents in this area? Yes I am.

But that was my choice, and as a father I did what I felt was best for my children.

To then suggest by tsking this action im contributing to privilege or social inequality is just plain offensive.

If you want to attack social inequality, then attack the reasons why I even had to make a choice in the first place.

Attack the reason why 8/10 of the best LEAs are in London and 8/10 of the worst performing are in the north.

The inequality in the state education is far more drastic than anything the independent sector contributes. Its somehow ok for @bphillipsonMP to send her children to a very nice state school in London then hold her nose and point to the private schools as causing inequality.

If private schools disappeared tomorrow, the fact is there would be more inequality in education than there is today.

All the wealthy would buy in the right areas, and we would be in the same old situation of good schools only being in wealthy neighbourhoods, just like people such as the Sutton trust were writing about 20 years ago.

[Life With Remote Husband @RemoteHusband]

@TrisOsborneMP @PaulJamesOakley And for those of us who don’t have grammar schools? Or even schools rated outstanding in our area and to move would result in a monthly mortgage cost more than cost of sending a child to a private? Sort out equitable state provision first before trying to tear down options

[Education Not Taxation @EducationNotTax]

STOP PRESS: 43,126 drop in mainstream independent school pupils after VAT introduction, DfE figures reveal

New data from the Department for Education show that pupil numbers in mainstream independent schools, in England, have fallen by 43,126 since the introduction of VAT on school fees - in England.

The decline now exceeds the Government’s projected impact for the whole period to 2031.

This is significantly worse than the figures published this week by the ISC, which, as we noted at the time, did not cover the entire independent school sector.

These figures raise serious questions about the assumptions underpinning the policy and its impact on pupils, families, and schools. When actual losses have already surpassed long-term forecasts, the Government should urgently review both the policy and the evidence on which it was based.

As parents and schools warned, the Government’s forecasts were based on faulty assumptions that did not hold true. It’s time to end this tax. We all want great schools, but this is not the way to achieve that.
#FindABetterWay
#EducationNotTax

@LauraTrottMP @BBCNews @NickFerrariLBC @CamillaTominey @TiceRichard @educationgovuk @ISC_schools @spectator @LibDems

Data source for England only: Dept of Education: https://t.co/g6wuy6YcPT
Pupil numbers from Scotland, Wales and Ireland are NOT included in this data.

[Education Not Taxation @EducationNotTax]

It's clear that far more children are forced out of their schools than the Government (and @theIFS) projected, and far more schools have closed. Not just small schools, but larger schools. We put together a timeline below. It's time to end the madness and stop this tax.

(REPOSTING to clarify that these closures are England only.)

[Education Not Taxation @EducationNotTax]

30,000 kids have left independent schools, according to the latest @ISC_schools Census, writes the @thetimes (@nicolawoolcock). The Government predicted just 37,000 would go in total. This is in line with estimates by @theIFS (@PJTheEconomist), which said up to 40,000.

Parents warned the Government that this would happen. And we're just 18 months in.

As the Government reviews its priorities, we urge them now to end this tax. It's not making money, but it is certainly disrupting children's lives.

We can't improve the nation's schools with policies based on tearing schools down. We must instead look at how to build schools up.

https://t.co/KjJHE8Y4wR

[Life With Remote Husband @RemoteHusband]

@MrEdMaths @jowilliams293 The fees rose, yes. But does it say by how much costs rose? I know TP contributions went from 14% to 28% in a similar period - if you then look at energy costs which have increased by 90% in real terms, the cost of running the school has likely risen in line

[Life With Remote Husband @RemoteHusband]

@MrEdMaths @jowilliams293 Have costs gone up in parallel? Can I ask what figures you are using? Trying to follow your maths and also wondering what happens when they lose their reserves? I know you said they wouldn’t need to use reserves but if a small school cuts fees by 16%, it won’t cover costs?

[Life With Remote Husband @RemoteHusband]

@MrEdMaths @jowilliams293 As charities is there a limit on how much they can hold in reserves versus using the money to actually undertake charitable activities? If they had held huge reserves they’d have been criticised for that instead

[Life With Remote Husband @RemoteHusband]

@CSPolicies @ibrar_dev @jowilliams293 And the devil is in the detail - from your own page, the number of mainstream independent schools fell. These are the ones bringing in VAT - the specialist schools are paid for by local authorities so no VAT.

[Life With Remote Husband @RemoteHusband]

@solentstars @thetimes Some are - the newer ones but the older ones are charities. No owners, no shareholders and no profits. These are now the ones shutting down.

[Education Not Taxation @EducationNotTax]

.@Tom_Richmond found that larger independent schools have closed since the Government began taxing education. This was reported by @GLJourno in @thetimes yesterday. FYI @TimesRadio.

In response, @educationgovuk claimed that more independent schools opened than closed in 2025. However, their counts include schools that AREN'T AFFECTED by the Government's Education Tax.

We urge them to better understand the impacts of their policy and repeal this tax before more schools close and more children's lives are disrupted.

https://t.co/7WOeJcXEEz

[Life With Remote Husband @RemoteHusband]

@MrFerguson85 @Tom_Richmond @thetimes How did taxpayers bear the burden of private schools prior to VAT? Education was VAT exempt. Surely the fact that many have been priced out has now increased the burden on tax payers? The state is now picking up their £8k per annum cost of education cf £0 prior to VAT.

[Tom Richmond @Tom_Richmond]

Supporters of VAT on private school fees keep claiming that this policy has had no discernible effect on private schools.

They are wrong.

My new analysis in @thetimes shows that more large private schools collapsed last year than ever before: https://t.co/S22dsSAZsG

(via @GLJourno)