Bursaries will be hit by Labour’s VAT raid on private schools

Philip Britton, headmaster of Bolton School – Paul Cooper

A private school headmaster has warned that Labour’s VAT raid will curb plans to give bursaries to one in three pupils.

Bolton School, a £13,600-a-year school in Greater Manchester, where one in five pupils receive financial support, has been planning to expand its bursary scheme to benefit one in three pupils in the next five years.

However, Philip Britton, head of foundation at the school, said under Labour’s plans to add VAT to fees, the school would have to slow its plans to expand bursary support.

He said: “We have, and had, real ambition to arrive at one in three here on bursaries within the next five years or so. That timescale will increase.”

He added: “Our bursary provision will not be diminished and I think that is also an important message. We want to be an inclusive school and we want to remain as we are, but everything will become just that little bit more difficult.”

Most private schools believe they will have to reduce bursaries and scholarships, as well as partnerships with state schools, if Labour wins the next election and follows through with its tax threat, a Censuswide poll for The Telegraph has found.

Philip Britton is also the incoming chairman of The Heads’ Conference – Paul Cooper

Last year, 29 per cent of private school pupils received financial support from their school, up from 20 per cent in 2000, according to the Independent Schools Council.

However, schools warn their bursary schemes are under threat as they explore how to cut costs to avoid passing on the full 20 per cent VAT to parents, many of whom would face being priced out.

Mr Britton, the incoming chairman of The Heads’ Conference (HMC), the group which includes Britain’s most prestigious private schools, called for an end to “the narrative that is state versus independent”.

He said: “This policy is not about state versus independence. It is about how that plays out for children.”

He added: “That is where the really important focus should be. We are talking about real people, both in our schools and in all of the other schools… The independent sector is focused on all pupils and how we manage to benefit as many as possible.”

Labour has claimed that the VAT policy will raise around £1.6 billion a year to fund more mental health staff and expert teachers in state schools.

Mr Britton said the policy will not raise “anything like enough for improvement in the state sector”.

He is a member of the Bolton Learning Partnership, a group of 28 private and state schools and Bolton council which share resources and expertise with the aim of improving education for all young people in the region.

He said that the state schools he works with should not expect “to have the only promise of funding from an uncertain and indirect form of taxation”.

The Bolton School foundation, which traces its origins back to 1516, includes a nursery, infant school, and single-sex junior and senior schools on a 32-acre campus.

Pupils have to take an entrance exam, and are then assessed on their eligibility for financial support. One in 11 pupils are on full scholarships.

Mr Britton, who attended a state school in Gateshead before studying physics at Oxford, said the narrative around private schools needs to take place “outside the South East bubble”.

He said: “I think the narrative that since fees have gone up a lot over the last 20 years, it’s obvious that parents will be able to afford an enormous fee increase, is not true. It obviously isn’t true. Some parents will be able to. Most parents will not. Some schools will be able to. Most schools will not. And it’s a narrative that absolutely needs to take place outside the South East bubble.”

He said there are “hardly any” families who are “rich” at Bolton School. “The average parent at Bolton School is someone who has made a choice to prioritise their finances to afford an independent education for a whole variety of reasons,” he said.

Bridget Phillipson, shadow education secretary, speaking to the media at College Green, Westminster, on March 6 – Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire

Labour has defended criticism of its VAT plans, saying it will “invest in a brilliant state education for every child paid for by ending private schools’ tax breaks”.

Asked by The Telegraph earlier this month about private schools scaling back bursaries because of the policy, Bridget Phillipson, shadow education secretary, said: “Private schools have responsibilities when it comes to demonstrating wider benefit to society, and that extends to their wider work such as scholarships and community engagement.”

She added: “I think private schools do have choices that they can make about how they spend their money.”

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