Following yesterday’s ballot, a Labour government has been elected. As Principals, my brother, Hugh and I know that the result will understandably cause uncertainty for all independent schools directly, and of course for our parents who have placed their children with us at Claires Court. For some time, Labour’s stated intention has been to remove “tax breaks” for our sector by imposing VAT on school fees and, as has already happened in Scotland and Wales, removing mandatory business rates relief from independent schools with charitable status. Because Claires Court does not have charitable status, we pay full business rates so the loss of this relief is already covered. Many independent schools nationally will not be so fortunate.

I copy below the message sent from Rudi Elliot Lockhart, CEO of the Independent Schools Association (ISA) to all 674 headteachers within ISA, the largest of the associations covering such schools in England.

“We have a new Government. As we know, it is the stated policy of the Government to impose VAT on school fees and to end business rates relief for schools with charitable status.
This has been the predominant political issue for the independent sector for a good while and has taken up much of ISA’s work in recent times. Nothing changes in this regard, other than we now have the certainty of a Labour government.

We will continue to make a positive case for all our schools and the independent sector more widely. We will continue to point out that we believe the Government’s VAT policy is misguided with damaging consequences for many of our schools and their pupils.
ISA is open to working with whoever is in power. We hope to have a constructive dialogue with the new Government to secure the best educational outcomes for our schools. We are working closely with the Independent Schools Council (ISC) our umbrella organisation, which is also in communication with heads, sharing the work it has done on behalf of the independent sector and its immediate plans.”

The new Labour government now has to publish the details of their outline proposals, including their consideration of the many unintended consequences to be worked through, together with a timetable for implementation. The King’s Speech on 19 July will contain an outline but the incoming new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has said that the policy will be announced in her first Budget (expected in the autumn), and media briefings have suggested implementation is likely to be later in 2025, either aligned to the new tax year (April) or school year (September). In the meantime, whilst ISA and ISC will be directly engaging with the incoming government over the summer period, the Principals and staff at Claires Court will work extremely hard to make sure we mitigate as best we can the harmful effects as they emerge from Labour’s proposals. As best we can, our Principals’ letter to parents at the end of this term next week will cover more in this area should the new government provide further clarity on this matter before then.