Labour's VAT raid on private school fees 'will have a seismic impact'

Labour’s tax raid on private school fees risks a ‘seismic impact on girls’ due to a shortage of female-only state schools, heads warn.

The Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) said it was a ‘backwards step’ for ‘equality’ because female-only education improves pupils’ life chances and ‘breaks glass ceilings’.

The body, which represents 150 girls’ private schools, warned families may no longer be able to educate their daughters in exclusively female establishments due to the policy.

Those forced out of their schools by ‘unaffordable’ fee rises may not be able to find a similar state place, meaning they have to go co-educational.

Some areas in England have very few single-sex state schools, and in Scotland there are none.

Donna Stevens, chief executive of the GSA, said the new VAT on fees, due to come into effect in January, may lead to the girls’ school sector shrinking and choice being ‘eroded’.

Speaking at the GSA’s annual conference, she said even where there are state girls’ schools, they are ‘packed’ and places are ‘impossible’ to get.

GSA president Alex Hutchinson added: ‘The Government’s rushed VAT policy has the potential to have a seismic impact on girls’ life chances.’ 

She said there would be ‘individual hardworking families’ at GSA schools who will find fee rises linked to the VAT ‘unaffordable’ and may have to leave the sector.

She added: ‘It may be that because there are a very small number of all-girls state schools [in some areas], their choice to educate their daughters in an all-girls school is taken away.’

Mrs Hutchinson said girls’ schools are ‘absolute beacons around the promotion of gender parity’.

She added that the GSA’s purpose is ‘to have schools that are designed for girls’ and she said in their schools ‘there’s no such thing as a boy subject’.

Mrs Stevens said that research ‘shows time and time again that it [girls-only education] does improve girls’ life chances and break glass ceilings’.

She said girls’ schools can ‘tailor’ education to their needs, for example by showing how physics can ‘change the world’, which tends to appeal to girls.

In addition, girls are encouraged to do science subjects because there is no negative ‘pressure’ from boys, she said.

Asked if she thought the VAT change was a 'step backwards for equality', she said: ‘I think we would.’ 

It comes after The Mary Erskine School for girls, in Edinburgh, announced it will merge with a boys’ school last month.

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Single-sex schools 'could be forced to close' if Labour's VAT on fees cripples them

This leaves just two girls’ schools in Scotland - St George’s in Edinburgh and St Margaret’s in Aberdeen - both of which are private.

Asked about the VAT policy on LBC Radio, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said private schools should cope with the increase in costs by ‘managing budgets’.

She said: ‘I know our state schools have been under enormous pressure and have had to deal with it and maybe they could provide some advice to the private sector on how to manage their budgets more effectively.’

An HM Treasury spokesman said: ‘The Government has made difficult decisions on tax now to fix the foundations and increase investment in public services and the economy, to rebuild Britain and unlock long-term growth.

‘We want to ensure all children have the best chance in life to succeed. Ending tax breaks on private schools will help to raise the revenue needed to break down the barriers of opportunity for children and young people across the country.’