Why is education, around the world, generally exempt from VAT? Because education is a merit good – something governments want to encourage, not discourage. It's an investment in our young people, the skills our economy needs and our future. And, that's why education was VAT exempt in the UK until two years ago, and why books, uni tuition and many other educational services still are. Whether VAT on private school fees raises billions or nothing at all misses the point. Education should never be taxed. @JohnHealey_MP Find a better way to fund our public services. Scrap VAT on school fees. #FindABetterWay #EducationNotTax

Do these Ministers never get bored of trotting out the same tired stock answers? Are they not even a little embarrassed? Or curious enough to examine the evidence before repeating this guff? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The claims have been challenged, the figures examined and the misleading comparisons exposed. Time and again. Yet they just keep repeating them. They really do have some brass neck. For the facts: VAT impact analysis: educationnottaxation.org/vat… Rebuttals to Government claims: educationnottaxation.org/reb… Latest school closures: educationnottaxation.org/sch… @paulwaugh @DrNShastriHurst @LauraTrottMP @educationgovuk @CommonsEd #EducationNotTax #FindABetterWay

Thank you @_Harry_Brennan_ for your @Telegraph piece calling out price discrimination against independent school children. It's disappointing to hear that leading organisations like @The_Globe, @UKSpaceAcademy, @bankofengland, @NationalTheatre, @TheRSC, @KeatsHouse, @HornimanMuseum, @WMGallery and Chiswick House & Gardens charge more for independent school children (and @bankofengland actually preventing them from attending certain events). As @Anthony_J_Perry pointed out, "this two-tier approach does nothing to reduce inequality and fails to recognise the complex reality of families and education." At best, it sparks division which surely cannot be the mission of any of these organisations. There are better ways to support those in most need, such as concessionary rates for children on free school meals or living in postcodes of higher deprivation. The @EducationNotTax team would like to meet with you to discuss this further, so we can help you address this problem. Thank you! telegraph.co.uk/money/consum…

Dover Grammar School for Boys (@DGSBTweet) have 80 more students than places (9.1% oversubscribed), according to @Kent_Online. The planning application says the school had a "sustained and unanticipated increase in pupil numbers". We anticipated it. This is what happens when you tax independent schools. As we've said, taxing children out of their schools (and discouraging others from going to independent schools) increases pressure on state schools. It's clear that, rather than turning children away, Dover Grammar School for Boys took on as many as they could. Other children will still have missed out, and those at the school are constrained in what support they can provide (e.g. bigger classes). @MikeTappTweets, you can see the effects in your own constituency. Will you call for your party to repeal this tax? kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/…

“The whole school workforce.” “Every child.” Quite right, @LucyMPowell. But 161 mainstream independent schools have closed or partially closed since July 2024. Behind those closures are teachers and support staff losing jobs, and children losing their schools. They are part of the school workforce. They are children too. An Education Secretary for every child cannot simply look the other way while Government policy adds to the pressure on their schools. #EducationNotTax

It doesn't take a genius to work out that if you make something significantly more expensive, demand will fall. That is what is happening in independent schools across the country. At Drumduan School (now closed), the impact of VAT, the school says, led to an immediate 24% fall in its pupil roll. Now look at our data on mainstream independent schools still open: 401 have lost 15%+ of their pupils 269 have lost 20%+ 120 have lost 30%+ Add tax, pupils leave — or don't join in the first place. Income falls. Schools become unviable. They close. There are more closures to come. Stop the damage. Scrap VAT on education. Tick tock @LucyMPowell @LauraTrottMP #EducationNotTax #FindABetterWay

And another one... 301 families put Northampton's most in-demand state secondary school as their first choice. Just 98 of them got a place. Sure, this school has always been popular. But it rather reinforces the point: there was already huge pressure on the most sought-after state schools before the Govt decided to push more families out of independent education. The Education Secretary uses national first-choice figures as evidence that VAT hasn't put pressure on the state sector. But education isn't national. It's local. And locally, the story can look very different. #EducationNotTax northamptonchron.co.uk/educa…

Three stories in the papers this week. All predictable. All predicted. @theipaper Parents paying for 11+ tutoring to get into grammar schools. @Telegraph Parents uprooting their lives and moving house to get into the right state-school catchment. @Kent_Online Parents around Maidstone getting none of their four secondary school choices. Parents will always do the best they can for their children. The demand for great schools doesn’t disappear when you tax private schools, it just adds more pressure to the state sector, and unfortunately those with the least flexibility have the fewest options. #EducationNotTax

Competition for grammar school places has intensified since the Government's school fee VAT. Now *3-year-olds* are being tutored to pass a single exam that will shape their lives. Independent school parents warned this would happen, and it has. inews.co.uk/news/education/w…

Thank you @DavidAltonHL for again highlighting the harms that the Government's education tax has caused. Parents have long warned that this tax would force children out of their schools, increasing strain on state schools. The @EducationNotTax team are also documenting the harms of this tax and our analysis of *Government* data also shows that reality is far greater than projected figures. This analysis can be found below. It's time to repeal this tax (and, contrary to Govt claims, this is NOT the norm). educationnottaxation.org/vat…

Interesting fact hiding in this article from the @spectator... "A quarter of state secondary schools don't have a single specialist physics teacher." We get asked quite often: "Why pay? What's wrong with the local state school?" There are lots of reasons families choose private schools, and this is one of them. Not all state schools are equal. Some parents pay simply to get what other children already get in the state system. Every child deserves great teachers. But taxing parents who opt out and pay for an alternative isn't fair — and it doesn't magic up more physics teachers either. #EducationNotTax spectator.com/article/when-w… #EducationNotTax

Britain has a teacher recruitment problem. Labour promised 6,500 more teachers. They taxed our children's education on the promise it would fund those teachers and improve state schools. Spoiler alert, it hasn't. The number of teachers in state schools has actually FALLEN since their chosen baseline. At the same time, their education tax has pushed more children towards the state sector. More pupils. Fewer teachers. How exactly was that supposed to help? The great teacher shortage is turning into a crisis spectator.com/article/when-w… @spectator @LucyMPowell @UKLabour