Business Bites - Back to School

It came as a surprise to many that the tax was going to be introduced in the middle of an academic year. No doubt people will be priced out of their schools and will need to find a place for their child in the state sector. A Freedom of Information Act request to West Sussex County Council confirmed that there have already been “enquiries made by a number of parents about the potential for an in-year admission from an independent school”.

The County Council also confirmed that while classes were ‘typically 30 pupils’, from Key stage 2 (years 3-6) and beyond “ schools can determine their own class size arrangements”. The real danger is that class sizes will be inflated to absorb these new children.

Why is this a business issue? Firstly, children are the future of our trades and industry. While not all children will select the academic route, there is an understanding that school provides an important foundation for teaching functional and practical life skills.

The reality is that children end up in the private sector for a variety of reasons. Some working parents need wraparound care which the state school day cannot provide. Others may have special education needs that are not being met in mainstream education. Some people in the armed forces use boarding schools because they are obliged to be away from home for extended periods and the boarding option provides a consistency for their child while also meeting basic care needs. The reasons are many, but from experience most people with children in private education aren’t the ultra-wealthy. Many are working parents. That’s not to say it isn’t a privilege to have the choice. It’s simply to clarify that what seems to be the government’s hope that parents just ‘suck it up’ isn’t based in reality. Children will be moving to state schools in January as a result.

A number of local schools are involved in the wider community, whether it is allowing community groups to use their grounds, to providing scholarships and opportunities to learn skills that are simply not available in the state sector – the Cathedral choristers are an obvious example of that locally. If schools see too many children leaving then they will close. It happened to the chorister school in York post pandemic. While the answer that seems to be given is that they simply weren’t good businesses, the fact remains communities at a local level are made poorer when this happens.

Some MPs have been vocal in their opposition of the policy. For Chichester, Jess Brown-Fuller MP confirmed “…I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues do not support ending the VAT exemption for independent schools, for the simple reason that we should not tax education.” She also confirmed that ‘West Sussex County Council is one of the most poorly funded local authorities, and our mainstream schools could not cope with the further pressure from those families who would then not be able to afford independent school fees”.

So, what does this mean for Chichester? While we can’t be sure, we can expect to see larger class sizes locally from January. Will any funding be enough to compensate for that? Given our local authority is one of the worst for funding it seems unlikely. A number of local parents with their children at independent schools work for the NHS. Their salaries are nothing like the private sector. Will we see those parents working fewer hours? The full scale of the problem parents and local communities face won’t be obvious until the October budget.

There is a real and immediate problem with education in the UK from an employer’s perspective. A Radio 4 programme this week spoke to parents and university students who complained that no one made sure they attended lectures and did their work. No employer wants to micromanage people and yet we appear to be producing students who lack grit, determination and the self-starting nature employers crave. The silver lining for business owners this week is that at least probationary periods of up to 6 months will still be permitted under the latest shake up of workers’ rights. We can only hope that there is a similar compromise on taxing education.