Labour's plan to add VAT to independent school fees will cost taxpayers up to £650 million per year, according to analysis from the Treasury. The analysis, which was unveiled by chancellor Jeremy Hunt on Friday, found that if the policy forced almost 100,000 pupils out of independent schools and into the state sector, the government would have to spend an extra £650 million per year. By Genevieve Holl-Allen, Tim Wallace and Nick Gutteridge, The Telegraph. 

Adding VAT to school fees means the government could lose money when children move into the state sector, new research by the Taxpayers' Alliance has found. The think tank highlighted a survey from Saltus, which showed that 26 per cent of pupils would have to be removed from their independent school should fees be taxed, forcing just over 144,000 young people into the state sector at a cost of £1.1 billion. Reference is made to the ISC's census. City AM.

The Telegraph explores the findings of the ISC's census and reports parents are having to look at a variety of payment options, including asking grandparents for support with fees. One couple tells the paper: “It was a painful decision financially for us to pay our grandchildren’s school fees, but in the end they have settled in happily." Gianpaolo Mantini, partner at investment management company Saltus, warns: "It’s going to be a case of people helping out to the extent that they can afford to.” By Eleanor Doughty.

An anonymous parent writes in The Times on the rising cost of independent school fees. She explains that the threat of VAT, along with other cost pressures, has put independent school out of reach for her child, who she suspects is neurodivergent. Describing the family's positive experience at an independent school open day, she writes: "In that school classroom, with that little group of children, I’ve never seen him able to concentrate so well, to follow instructions and join in."

In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Mike Harris criticises Labour's tax plans to raise funds for state schools and suggests instead that the money should be spent on bursaries at independent schools. Mr Harris writes: "While Labour’s current policy gets low marks, VAT on private schools is not a bad idea – it is an incomplete one. Education outcomes would be definitively more positive if private schools were given the simple choice between imposing VAT and offering low-income students full bursaries equal to 20% of revenues." Mike Harris is the founder of Cribstone Strategic Macro and an adjunct professor of finance, economics and management for Syracuse University in London.

In a letter to The Telegraph, a reader argues that funds raised under Labour's tax plans "will not be spent on improving the state sector" but "will simply be absorbed by the cost of accommodating additional pupils". The letter appears half-way down the page.

New schools guidance could see teachers being given protection from claims of blasphemy by religious groups. A government-commissioned report is proposing that legal guarantees upholding teachers’ rights to freedom of expression should be introduced, and schools barred from automatically suspending staff or pupils in response to blasphemy complaints. By Matt Dathan, The Times.

A quarter of young people believe that carrying a knife for protection will make them feel safer when walking the streets, a report by anti-kinfe charity the Ben Kinsella Trust has revealed. As ministers step up plans to prevent more lives being lost to knife crime, almost one in ten young people said they have considered arming themselves with a blade. By David Woode, The Times.

The Observer has learned that some schools in England are sending police to the homes of children who are persistently absent, or warning them their parents may go to prison if their attendance doesn’t improve. Headteachers have told the paper of the pressure they are facing to turn around the crisis in attendance, with a record 150,000 children at state schools classed as severely absent in 2022-23. By Anna Fazackerley.

A third of pupils in every class struggle to keep up with lessons because of their reading ability, according to a survey of teachers by GL Assessment. Chief executive of the National Literacy Trust Jonathan Douglas, who wrote a foreword to the report, said the “current state of children and young people’s reading in the UK paints a troubling picture”. By Cerys Turner, Tes.

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