Labour's private school fee VAT plans confirmed in King's Speech

Advisers have cautioned that a flurry of parents may return to state system

Isabel Baxter
clock • 2 min read

Labour’s plans to remove the exemption from value added tax (VAT) for private school fees were confirmed in the King’s Speech yesterday (17 July).

At the state opening of Parliament, King Charles confirmed a widely expected measure that there would be a 20% VAT introduced on UK private school fees.  Advisers anticipate that a chunk of clients could look to pull their children out of private education as a result of cost hikes, while a legal expert has suggested that divorced parents could be most exposed to fee hike pain. "We await more detail in Labour's first Budget, but with school fees inflation having long outpaced general inflation, it will be interesting to see how much of the additional cost they can absorb and, in turn,...

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