‘Bursaries at risk’ under Labour, warns ex-headmaster of Winchester College
Tim Hands says the Labour policy will mean less money for bursaries. Winchester College has 130 pupils currently receiving some form of financial support - Jim Pascoe
Labour’s VAT raid will put bursaries at private schools under threat, the former headmaster of Rishi Sunak’s school has warned.
Tim Hands, 68, who retired as headmaster of Winchester College last year, said the move would mean private schools had “less money” to subsidise the cost of tuition.
He said: “This measure is not going to encourage social mobility but the reverse. It is going to mean selection by wallet – but only from bigger wallets.
“There will be less money for bursaries, in which the sector takes pride, and fewer parents able to make the sacrifices they wish. No one is suggesting that the money diverted to the state sector will be other than nugatory. This is about politics, not education, and still less about young people.”
Mr Hands, who was previously headmaster of Portsmouth Grammar and Magdalen College School in Oxford, did not comment on how the Labour policy would impact Winchester College itself.
The day and boarding school claims to offer one of the most generous financial assistance schemes in the country, with 20pc of students receiving help to pay fees.
According to its website, the school has 101 pupils who receive financial support worth half or more of their full fee, and 29 pupils who are fully-funded.
Fees at Winchester College are £49,152-a-year for boarding and £36,369-a-year for day pupils.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak studied at the school as a dayboy, becoming head boy of the college. Mr Hands served as its headmaster between 2016 and 2023.
Mr Hands was instrumental in shifting Winchester College to begin its transition to co-educational after centuries as an all-boys school.
His warning comes as Sir Keir Starmer is poised to win a sizable majority in next week’s election, according to most opinion polls.
The Labour leader previously said he would impose 20pc VAT and business rates on private schools “straight away” were he to form a government.
Fears were prompted that it could mean higher fees from the beginning of the next academic year in September. However, the policy is now not expected to come into force until September next year at the earliest, after it emerged budget rules could delay the tax raid.
Schools have warned that the taxes will inevitably be passed on to parents in the form of higher fees, while funding for bursaries and scholarships will be stretched.
The Telegraph has been contacted by dozens of parents who say they are fearful of the impacts the policy could have on bursary funding at private schools.
One said: “My child has a partial bursary at a private school. I am a single parent, working full time for the NHS. I make huge sacrifices to send my son to private school and am at the limits of affordability.
“Adding VAT to the fees will mean I can no longer afford to send my son to private school, even with a partial bursary. My child directly benefits from the charity of private schools, as do many other children.”
Another wrote: “I was a bursary kid who received a huge amount of bursary from the school, which enabled me to continue my attendance during a time of deep family troubles, in which our finances and our life was greatly affected.
“That bursary saved my life and protected me from all the troubles at home and put me on a different path of life.
“It pains me to say that if Labour imposed this VAT charge, private schools would reduce the amount of bursary they offered. This pains me because as a former bursary beneficiary, those three years I got from the school were the best few years of my life which changed me and enabled me to achieve greater things.”
The Labour party was approached for comment.
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