Hunstanton’s Glebe House School fears for future amid Labour Party plans to tax private school fees
Staff at a private school in West Norfolk are fearing for its future amid Labour Party plans to charge them a fifth more in VAT.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves may have made a U-turn on proposals to strip independent schools of their charitable status, but the party has confirmed that a Labour government would still charge them 20% VAT on their fees and exclude them from business rates relief.
Private schools can currently claim gift aid on donations and avoid paying tax on annual profits, which must be reinvested in education.
Despite the watering down of original proposals, bosses at the independent Glebe House School in Hunstanton are worried about the impact they will have.
It has been part of the West Norfolk educational landscape for 150 years, and charges £5,530 per term for a place in its Prep School Div III – VIII.
“This proposed policy does cause us at Glebe House School significant concern,” head teacher Adrian Stewart told the Lynn News.
“We are a small school, and we operate on very narrow margins. The imposition of additional financial burdens will introduce risk to our viability.
“We believe that the national education sector needs both state and independent schools to deliver the world renowned quality of education for which English schools are rightly recognised.
“At Glebe House School our vision is to enable the widest possible access to children in North West Norfolk and beyond to help give them the best possible start on their education journeys.
“We would be delighted to host any MPs should they wish to visit to see what we do to meet our community needs.”
Changes to the Labour Party plans have contradicted original statements made by Ms Reeves in 2021.
That year, she said: “Here’s the truth: private schools are not charities. And so we will end that exemption and put that money straight into our state schools. That is what a Labour government will do.”
However, the party now says it does not need to end their charitable status to be able to charge 20% VAT on their fees – claiming this term was used to group the policies together.
A Labour spokesperson told PA Media: “Our policy remains. We will remove the unfair tax breaks that private schools benefit from, to fund desperately needed teachers and mental health counselling in every secondary school.
“This doesn’t require removing charitable status, however driving high and rising standards for every child against the backdrop of a broken economy requires political choices. Labour isn’t afraid to make them.”
Julie Robinson, the chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, said she is concerned that the plans would create a two-tier system which taxes charities that do not reflect “the political ideology of the day”.
The Lynn News has also contacted the Swaffham Campus of OneSchool Global and the Downham Preparatory School and Montessori Nursery, which are both also private, for comment.
