VAT on private school fees not caused exodus to state sector, says Bridget Phillipson

Bridget Phillipson says critics who said putting VAT on private school fees would cause mass closures were wrong. Photograph: WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Bridget Phillipson says critics who said putting VAT on private school fees would cause mass closures were wrong. Photograph: WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/Shutterstock VAT on private school fees not caused exodus to state sector, says Bridget Phillipson Education secretary cites admissions data for England, saying Labour is ‘rebalancing the system to focus on 94% of kids in state schools’ Adding VAT to private school fees has failed to trigger an exodus of pupils into the state sector despite widespread speculation that it would, the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson , has said. The Labour government applied 20% VAT to private school fees from the start of 2025. They had previously been exempt from the tax. Newly published admissions data for England showed there had been no influx towards state schools since then. Phillipson said: “The predicted exodus from private schools simply hasn’t happened and today’s data proves it. Critics warned state schools would be swamped with new pupils. They were wrong. They said private schools would close en masse. They haven’t. Telegraph censured for story of fictional family’s struggle to pay school fees Read more “We are rebalancing the system to focus on the 94% of kids in state schools, a majority that has been sidelined for too long.” The admissions data is the first since VAT was added, taken from applications to state schools made in October last year for places in the school year starting next September. The former chancellor Jeremy Hunt was among those who predicted that up to 90,000 children could enter the state sector after the addition of VAT. But the figures from the Department for Education (DfE) actually showed a decline in overall applications for both primary and secondary school places this year, while nearly 85% of families received their first choice of secondary school place, higher than in 2025 and 2024. Local authorities in central London with some of the highest proportions of privately educated children showed no signs of a rise in applications. Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea both received fewer applications for places in September compared with the two previous years. But there was a slight increase in Islington, where the share of families getting their first preference of secondary school dropped from 68% to 66%. The DfE said that 94% of secondary applicants and 98% of primary applicants in London received an offer from one of their six preferred schools and noted: “That is not a system under pressure.” In Surrey, which was singled out as a likely hotspot for private school defections, there were fewer applications for secondary places this year, while in Kent there was an increase of 2%. However, experts cautioned that the falling birthrate and post-Brexit population sh