"Immense pressure" could be placed on class sizes at Bolton’s state schools if VAT is imposed on private education fees, councillors have heard. The Labour Party election manifesto pledges to end private schools’ VAT exemption. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank have said that Labour’s policy would raise about £1.
6bn per year, external, generating an extra £1.3-1.5bn to spend after the estimated cost of accommodating children switching from private to state education.
That could allow a two per cent increase in state school spending in England. Bolton School, with more than 2,500 pupils between 11 and 18, is one of the largest independent day schools in the country. The council recently debated a motion from veteran Conservative councillor John Walsh on the issue.
He urged the council to agree that the imposition of VAT on school fees is not a sustainable policy. He said: “There is already massive pressures on our state schools and a growing number of students. “A current class of 31 or 32 could increase by 10 per cent, an extra three pupils per class.
That puts immense pressure both on physical space and on teaching capacity.” Council leader Nick Peel disagreed with that assessment: “I reject the central pillar of the motion is that removing VAT exemption from private school fees will lead to increasing numbers in the state sector. "The IFS say the initial drop off will be in the region of three per cent rising the seven per cent longer term.
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