4 days ago
‘Leave our kids alone': One parent's anger as school fees rise under Labour
As a small business owner, Emma says the new VAT on private school fees is hitting families like hers hard.
'It's now just under £10,000 pounds for each term in the senior school,' she says. 'By the time we're paying the school fees… My husband and I have paid our taxes. We've absolutely done everything we can.' Instead of spending money on luxuries, she adds, 'my husband and I are putting money into the local economy, paying local teachers… And that's even before you get into all the kind of charity work the school does'.
Emma is frustrated by what she sees in school catchment areas. 'There's a moral turpitude to that kind of attitude… renting flats near the school, not even living there to get the residency… How can you live with yourselves?' Meanwhile, private school parents are painted as villains. 'When we get vilified as private school children, parents… I do start to lose the plot a bit.'
Her message to the Government is simple: 'Leave our kids alone.' She adds, 'By not sending my two children to state school, I'm saving the Government… about seven and a half thousand pounds per child per year… We're not taking anything away from the state at all.'
