Private school parents could face a further fee hike if a national insurance increase is announced in the Budget in what has been called an “extra tax” on top of the government’s controversial new VAT policy.
With one warning that “there is only so far that the system can be squeezed before it starts to fall apart”, independent school leaders fear the sector will be hit twice – first, by Labour’s removal of private schools’ 20 per cent VAT exemption, which will start in January, and now, by a potential rise in employers’ national insurance contributions, which the chancellor has not ruled out ahead of her first Budget on 30 October.
