British Army consults service families on private school VAT raid

Parents serving in the Armed Forces depend on boarding schools to ‘provide stability’ while they travel for work, the Army says

The British Army is consulting military families amid concern they could be priced out of private schools by VAT changes, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Government intends to hit private schools with 20 per cent VAT from Jan 1 2025, ending their exemption from the tax.
The Army said it was “keen to understand the impact of this change on service personnel and their families” and recognised that many families “depend on private schools to provide stability to their children whilst they meet the day-to-day demands of service life”.
Military families were asked to share their views by Sept 23 in the poll drawn up by the Army’s policy team and shared on its official social media channels.
The Government faces growing pressure to exempt military families from the VAT change, after ministers unveiled a similar relief clause for children with severe special educational needs.
Around 4,700 children from military and diplomatic families currently receive taxpayer-funded support to help with private education.
The Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA), designed to provide stability for children whose parents frequently work away, can cover up to 90 per cent of boarding school fees.
The Government has so far held off from granting a VAT exemption for those in receipt of CEA and said it will “closely monitor” the impact of its tax raid on those children.
Military families have previously told The Telegraph they would quit the Armed Forces unless the Government offered them an exemption.
The CEA has been frozen for many years and is capped at £9,080 per term for secondary schools – almost £6,000 less than the average boarding school fee, according to the Independent Schools Council.
This means that, despite the financial aid, military parents in receipt of CEA often have to spend upwards of £17,000 per year to send their child to boarding school.
Lawyers last week launched a High Court legal challenge against the VAT plan, arguing that the policy discriminates against special needs children.
The Government has said it will only exempt children with the most complex special needs, those in receipt of Education and Health Care Plans (EHCP). These plans offer tailored support to children in England with severe needs and sometimes mean their fees are covered by their local authority.
The Treasury confirmed to The Telegraph it would also offer a VAT waiver to pupils in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with equivalent plans, since EHCPs only exist in England.
Almost 6 per cent of private school pupils in England had an EHCP last year, according to latest Department for Education data. A further 17 per cent – around 100,000 pupils in independent schools – received special needs support that fell short of an EHCP.
The Telegraph has previously revealed it can take up to two years to be granted an EHCP due to a backlog in some local councils. While in opposition, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, admitted the process was “broken” and needed to be reformed.
Paul Conrathe, senior consultant solicitor at Sinclairslaw, which is leading the legal challenge, said it was “remarkable that the Government is pressing ahead with this punitive tax that will have a devastating impact upon the education and welfare of children with special needs”.
The law firm is making the case on behalf of a single parent and her daughter rather than a class action.
It is the first official legal challenge to the Government’s plan, which has faced significant backlash. Further legal claims for military families and faith school attendees may also be put forward at a later date, The Telegraph understands.
Private schools have already begun announcing fee increases from January. Most have chosen to absorb at least part of the 20 per cent tax for two terms after the VAT comes into force, amid fears that some parents could be priced out after the plans were brought forward.
The Telegraph revealed that last week that one council had asked a family to prove they could no longer afford private school fees after a mother tried to find a state school place for her daughter.
Buckinghamshire Council later apologised and said the “wording was taken from an individual correspondence rather than being a formal policy”.
A Government spokesperson said: “We want to ensure all children have the best chance in life to succeed. Ending tax breaks on private schools will help to raise the revenue needed to fund our education priorities for next year, such as recruiting 6,500 new teachers.
“We provide CEA to eligible officials and service personnel, which is in recognition of the enormous sacrifices our military families make and the fact that they are often required to move base location. 
“The allowance ensures that we can limit disruption to the education of serving personnel’s children.”