The Treasury minister James Murray has rejected calls to delay plans to add VAT to private school fees, saying the government needed to start raising funds as soon as possible in order to deliver on its educational ambitions for state schools.
Reports over the weekend suggested the policy, which is due to come into force from 1 January 2025, could be delayed after warnings from unions, tax experts and school leaders of administrative chaos, teacher job losses and overwhelmed state schools.
Many in the sector, including the NASUWT teachers’ union and the Association of School and College Leaders, advocated for “a more reasonable timeframe”, deferring the policy until September 2025 at the earliest.
However, Murray, speaking on Tuesday in a Westminster Hall debate and later in the Commons, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the existing timetable, insisting that schools and parents would have had five months to prepare and that HM Revenue and Customs was ready to support schools with VAT registration.
“A number of members today have asked why we are introducing this policy in January 2025. The reason for doing so is simple. We want to raise the funding we need as soon as possible to deliver our education priorities for state schools across the country,” he said.
Murray’s confirmation came as the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, was criticised by multiple MPs for a post on X in which she linked to a report claiming private schools were cutting back on embossed stationery and swimming pools to cope with the tax.
In her post the secretary of state commented: “Our state schools need teachers more than private schools need embossed stationery. Our children need mental health support more than private schools need new pools. Our students need careers advice more than private schools need AstroTurf pitches.”
Speaking during an opposition day debate in the Commons, the Conservative MP Graham Stuart called for an apology for what he described as a “malicious and spiteful” tweet.
The opposition whip Luke Evans said the education secretary’s tweet, which has now received 5.8m views, “reeks of prejudice and propagates a class war”. The shadow Treasury minister Nigel Huddleston said: “Parents who send their children to independent schools, who pay twice on their children’s education, deserve better than to be treated with contempt by their government’s education secretary.”
Phillipson turned up the hear the end of the debate but did not respond to calls for an apology. Murray responded: “[Neither] I, nor any of my colleagues, will make any apology for wanting to improve state education across this country to make sure that the aspiration of every parent in our country to get the best possible education for their children can be fulfilled.”
The government says the money raised by adding 20% VAT to private school fees will pay for 6,500 new teachers, better mental health support for children and breakfast clubs for all primary schools, and says the state sector can absorb those pupils who leave independent schools.
“We want to get on with these important changes right away and to do so they must be paid for,” Murray said. “And that’s why, to help fund these improvements to our state schools, we have made the tough but necessary decision to end tax breaks for private schools. We expect most private schools will be able to absorb a significant proportion of this new VAT charge to keep fee increases affordable for most parents.”
The shadow education secretary, Damian Hinds, raised concerns about the impact on pupils with special educational needs and disabilities whose needs cannot be met by state schools, as well as children from military families and those from small religious faiths, also not served by the state sector.
“This is a government which barely has its feet under the table, and already it is a government in chaos – a chaos exemplified by this destructive, disruptive and divisive education tax,” he said.