A headteacher has warned that Labour’s plan to impose VAT on private school fees could “breach human rights law”.
Caroline Santer, head of The King’s School in Hampshire, told GB News that the policy challenges parents’ rights to choose their children’s education, and it is their “duty” to protect those rights.
Citing the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to education and respects parents’ ability to raise children according to their religious beliefs, Santer argued that the government also has a duty to “protect religious freedom and parental choice”.
Santer’s institution is one of three Christian schools set to launch a court challenge against the government’s draft legislation, claiming it would unlawfully discriminate against them and potentially force Christian schools to close.
Headteacher Caroline Santer is one of three taking legal action against the government over the proposed tax raid
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The King’s School in Hampshire faces significant financial challenges due to the proposed VAT policy.
Santer explained that the school would not only have to contend with the 20 per cent VAT on fees, but also lose 80 per cent of its business rates relief.
Santer emphasised the school’s competitive pricing, with annual fees ranging from £6,000 in primary to around £9,000 in year 11.
She stressed that these fees already stretch many parents’ finances, and the school has limited ability to absorb the additional costs.
Santer told GB News: “Parents that send their children to us are doing so not necessarily because they’re looking for private education, per se, but they’re looking for something that’s very unique in that we are a Christian school in Hampshire, and have a very different offering to other schools in our surrounding area.”
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The VAT raid is just one of the many policies by Chancellor Rachel Reeves which has sparked outrage
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The headteacher expressed concern about the hasty implementation of the VAT policy, calling it “unnecessarily hasty” and administratively challenging.
She warned that the school would have to pass on the increased costs to parents, many of whom are already struggling to pay fees.
She explained: “For our parents, that’s a real stretch, and we have no ability, given the margins that we have as a school, to be able to absorb that much, as we would love to be able to do that.
“We are going to have to pass that on to our parents. And for many of them it’s going to be a huge challenge to be able to find that money and they’re perhaps already struggling to find the money to pay fees as it is.”
Santer told GB News that the government have a ‘duty’ to protect the rights of parents
GB News
Hitting out at the Labour government, Santer claimed that it is “incredible” of Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Starmer to implement such changes in January, when most Britons will be particularly struggling financially.
Santer concluded: “I have to say it seems incredible that the government would impose this in January.
“It seems unnecessarily hasty and makes life administratively very tricky.
“We’ve set our budgets, we’ve planned our finances, and suddenly there’s this fresh challenge to try and make the figures work.”
