EU diplomats advocate for international schools in the UK to be exempted from VAT as private schools are expected to begin paying 20% VAT on fees.
According to EU diplomats, imposing VAT on international schools in the UK could result in hundreds of students leaving. They also advocate for international schools to be exempted from the 20% VAT that private schools are expected to pay.
The French and German ambassadors to the UK, Hélène Duchêne and Miguel Berger, stated that international schools are different from private schools in Britain because transferring to the British state sector was not always realistic for their students.
Berger stated: “For expats coming here for two, three or four years wanting their children to go back to the national system, their only option is to go to these schools.”
He told the media: “We would really like to see the British government recognise the importance of these schools – not only for our political and cultural relations but also for the people this will affect.”
Since January, the government has intended to scrap the VAT exemption and the business rate reliefs for private schools to raise funds for 6,500 new teachers in state schools.
Berger stated that company executives who invest in the UK “must know they can send their children to a German school”. He added that Deutsche Schule London, based in Richmond in the southwest of the capital, had about 900 students and “between 20% and 25% might be obliged to leave” if the change was implemented.
He stated: “The German state covers 30% of the costs of the school and 50% of the investment, so there is a lot of state funding that goes into the school.”
Critics of the VAT policy have expressed concerns about the short time frame and the risk of unintended consequences, such as the potential impact on kids with learning disabilities who attend special schools and on military schools.
According to Duchêne, eleven schools accredited by the French education ministry in the UK, of which nine are in London, will be weakened by the VAT change.
She stated: “We are not asking for an exemption: we are not the target of this VAT measure. Our schools are different from the target ones since we follow special courses preparing for French exams. These parents don’t have a plan B because other schools don’t follow the French curriculum.”
She added that 6,300 students could be affected in the UK and that the change was “not in line with the reset to our relationship which the British government has instigated”. She argues that imposing VAT on the schools “could also be an issue for our companies, as they need these schools for employees coming to work here”.
