Three private Christian schools — Emmanuel School in Derby, Branch Christian School in Yorkshire, and King’s School in Hampshire— supported by the Christian Legal Centre and numerous Christian parents, are ready to sue the UK government over Labour’s suggested VAT on school fees. They are concerned that their parental rights to educate their children in accordance with their religious beliefs will be compromised. They say the policy is “oppressive”, it violates human rights law and discriminates against Christian institutions. 

According to Caroline Santer, headteacher at King’s School, the proposed law is “short-sighted” and the government “does not appear to realise, or care, about the impact they will have on the UK’s education system. The VAT increase affects families who are not from affluent backgrounds but want to send their children to a Christian school. Following the draft legislation, a number of families have been forced to take out loans. The school will also feel the effect of the VAT increase as we will lose 80 per cent relief on business rates. The policy will also have a significant impact on teachers’ wages and on the ability of independent schools to maintain their buildings.”

Ben Snowdon, headteacher at Emmanuel School, has expressed his concerns on how this will affect lower income families. He said the policy would be “devastating” for Christian schools, and parents would be deprived of choice in education: “It is especially concerning to parents who are not from affluent backgrounds and who have children with special education needs. Emmanuel is an incredibly diverse community with many of our families making huge financial sacrifices to send their children because of our Christian ethos and because of our reputation within their communities. A significant proportion of the children in our school are from lower-income families who simply cannot afford additional school fees. These families have chosen low-cost private education at immense personal sacrifice in order to access Christian education which is not available to them in state schools or because their children have special educational needs. If these children are forced to leave the school or the school becomes financially unviable and fails, the government will have to bear 100 per cent of the cost of their education, which the government currently receives for free.”

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre stated: “VAT will make independent faith schooling unaffordable for many families and may force some small faith schools to close. Around 370,000 pupils attend independent faith schools in England alone, the majority of which are Christian schools. Fees at these schools are typically below the independent school average and sometimes below the state per-pupil funding levels. It is unfair, and we argue, it is a breach of their human right to impose VAT on such schools. Labour must row back on this policy urgently. If they don’t, we will have no choice but to pursue every legal avenue in the pursuit of justice and protection of independent Christian schools in this country.”

Several independent schools have already closed in the UK due to the VAT increase. Among them there is Scotland’s only Catholic boarding school, Kilgraston in Perthshire, and Cedars Christian school in Greenock, west Scotland. St Joseph’s Preparatory School in Stoke-on-Trent is going to close this December.