The Labour government’s policy to remove tax exemptions from private schools came into force in January of this year (Alamy)

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In recent years, with state provision facing severe pressures, there has been a significant rise in the number of parents sending their children to independent schools to get the right SEND support.

However, leaders in the independent schools sector have warned that the VAT policy could push even those pupils who are exempt from the change into state-funded schools, where they may struggle to receive necessary support, if their private schools are forced into closure.

The Labour government’s general election manifesto policy to remove tax exemptions from private schools came into force in January of this year. 

The government estimates that extending VAT to private school fees will raise over £1.5bn in 2025/2026, which Labour says will be invested in improving state schools.

The Treasury has said that VAT would not be applied to fees if the pupil has an education, health and care plan (EHCP), and it has been decided that a local authority-funded place in a private school for specialist support is necessary.

For pupils who have additional needs but the local authority states that a mainstream private school can meet the child’s needs, VAT will be applied. 

Leaders have raised concerns that even those pupils with SEND who are exempt from the tax on fees could be negatively affected if schools are forced to close.

New data, collected by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) and shared with PoliticsHome, found a 78 per cent increase in the number of children with additional needs attending private schools in the last decade. 

The number of pupils in ISC schools with additional needs has risen from 66,026 in 2015 to 117,618 in 2025, according to the census.

While data for the 2024-2025 academic year for all schools is not yet available, Department for Education data shows that between 2015 and 2024, there was a rise of 48 per cent in additional needs from 1.1m to 1.7m.

The ISC Census is based on a survey carried out in January 2025 of 1,423 UK schools, with the majority of settings in England. 

The census also revealed that the number of children with SEND support has risen by 5.8 per cent year-on-year from 111,154 to 117,618.

Government figures show that pupils with support rose by 4.7 per cent from 2023 to 2024.

The general secretary of ISC, Julie Robinson, said that there are concerns that there “might not be the right spaces in the right places for children with SEND needs whose education is disrupted by this policy”. 

“Many parents have considered the current system and have instead opted for a local independent school so that their child can get the right support straight away.

“Independent schools play a vital part in their community’s education ecosystem, and we are particularly worried about how this tax on education might impact local SEND provision.”

Robinson added: “Independent schools are a vital part of the SEND landscape and, in many cases, offer parents a choice that helps their child to thrive.”

Some private schools are currently taking legal action against the government, claiming the policy of applying VAT to fees is discriminatory and a breach of human rights law.

Kim Venables, headteacher of Salterford House School in Nottinghamshire, said that she started to notice children joining the school two to four years ago who had found mainstream state-funded schools with large classes “overwhelming” due to their sensory needs. 

Venables’ school is a mainstream setting with a specialist SEND unit and has five pupils with an EHCP whose places are being funded by the local authority.

Following the introduction of the VAT policy in January, Venables told PoliticsHome it is a difficult time for independent schools, as they see more children leaving and new pupils becoming harder to enrol.

“It’s harder for people to make a commitment to independent education. I’m concerned about the impact if schools like ours take these children with SEND and then we close — what happens then to these children?”

Matthew Bryan, headteacher of Kingswood House School in Surrey, said a lot of schools “have seen a real drop-off in terms of open day attendance and prospective parents”.

He added that there has also been an increase in the number of families asking for more financial support from the school due to the costs incurred from the VAT policy.  

“But that’s not sustainable, that can’t keep increasing, because we need to keep the finances secure,” Bryan said, adding that the majority of those parents have children with additional needs.

“We currently have a really polarised system. Either children have to cope with what is available at the state-funded mainstream level (which is clearly not working for so many kids), or they get everything, which is really expensive, and it seems to be literally bankrupting local authorities. Neither of those is a particularly great deal, it seems to me.”

PoliticsHome has contacted the DfE for comment.