Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason the change in the VAT status of private school fees was introduced during the school year.

Tax policy is a matter for HM Treasury.

As set out in the government response to the technical note on applying VAT to private school fees, the government believes it was right to introduce these changes as soon as possible in order to raise the funding needed to help deliver our education priorities for the 94% of children who attend state schools in the UK. This response is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees-removing-the-charitable-rates-relief-for-private-schools.

As a result of the January 2025 start date, the VAT policy is forecast to raise £460 million in the 2024/25 financial year.

The January 2025 start date gave schools and parents five months to prepare from the date the policy was announced.

HMRC has taken action to support private schools through the change, including providing detailed guidance, running webinars and allocating additional resource to process VAT registration applications.