ISC CEO: VAT on fees policy 'simply hasn’t been considered in enough detail'

Speaking to Kate McCann and Stig Abell, Ms Robinson said: 

“We’re looking for a declaration of incompatibility against human rights. We felt it was really important that this unprecedented tax had its compatibility with human rights legislation tested because the policy was rushed in, and this hearing is going to allow time for the scrutiny that is so needed, given the thousands of children whose education is being affected already.

“Parents have the right to choose the type of education that best suits them and their family, so we’re supporting claimants – children with special needs, those educated at faith schools, single-sex, and bilingual schools – so that parents can continue to have that right to choose the kind of education they want.

“We feel that this policy simply hasn’t been considered in enough detail and we’ve been trying for a long time to engage the government in detailed discussions over what the genuine effect will be, because the policy has been brought in in a blanket way, rather than understanding all the different nuances of independent schools in our country. They are really diverse – most of the independent schools in this country are very small, we provide a really important service in delivering particular specialisms and capacity that the state can’t offer, and we think the damage this policy will cause is going to be so great that it won’t actually raise a particularly helpful sum of money.

“It is absolutely something that’s been rushed in very, very fast. Education isn’t subject to VAT across the world, so it’s very, very unusual. When the government was appointed, we were expecting some deep level consultation, consideration of all the children who were going to be disrupted by this policy – that didn’t happen in detail. Schools were given just a few weeks to turn this around, they have to work out partial reclaim, there are lots and lots of unanswered questions still sitting with the HMRC because schools are struggling to come to terms with all that they need to do administratively.

“What we expected was an extended period of consultation so that the government could truly understand the damage this policy was going to do to education in general: the effect it would have on the state system, as well as on independent schools and the thousands of families who have been disrupted. But no – it was rushed in in the middle of the school year, when children were already settled in their schools and schools had already set their budgets. It’s created a huge, huge problem for so many children.”