VAT on fees: 'Schools were promised that the money raised – if any – would go to state education'
Julie Robinson, chief executive of the ISC, has expressed concern after the prime minister suggested revenue from the government's VAT on fees policy would be used to fund house-building targets.
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of misleading the public over the VAT on fees policy, after suggesting it will be used to fund housing, not state school improvements. In a post shared to X following Wednesday's Spending Review, the prime minister said the tax policy had allowed ministers to announce "the largest investment in affordable housing in a generation".
Speaking to The Telegraph, Ms Robinson said: "Throughout the debate on VAT, schools were promised that the money raised – if any – would go to state education. We have seen the rhetoric on this watered down to ‘public services’ and now the revelation that it will now pay for housing.
"We are in the worst-case scenario, one that we have warned about since the introduction of this policy: real damage has been done to independent education without any benefit to state schools, who are also facing further cuts. It is children who will lose out as a result."