ISA join ISC and Associations with co-signed letter on tax policy on independent schools to The Telegraph

ISA have joined other independent school associations and councils to co-sign a letter to The Telegraph alongside the ISC in response to proposed tax policy on independent schools from the Labour Party.

Sir,

The Labour Party claims it will raise £1.71 billion with plans to levy a tax on parents by adding VAT to school fees. We say: show us your working. We are yet to see any robust analysis that lends credence to its claims.

In contrast, the party is happy to attack the independent Baines Cutler report, compiled by leading experts in the financial aspects of independent schools. It is the only research into the subject that is based on representative surveys of many thousands of independent school parents. The report found that, far from raising money, Labour could lose as much as £400 million a year by the end of its first term in government. The party has provided no impact assessment that comes close to the rigour of this report.

We want to see a well-funded state education system. But the path the Labour Party is mapping out would fail to raise the money our colleagues in the state sector need and deserve, while disrupting the lives and education of thousands of children whose parents work hard to fund the education they have chosen.

Rudolf Eliott Lockhart, CEO, Independent Schools Association

Julie Robinson, CEO, Independent Schools Council

John Edward, Director, Scottish Council of Independent Schools

Emma Verrier, CEO, Welsh Independent Schools Council

Christopher King, CEO, Independent Association of Preparatory Schools

Simon Hyde, CEO, Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference

Donna Stevens, CEO, Girls’ Schools Association

Clive Rickart, CEO, The Society of Heads

Robin Fletcher, CEO, Boarding Schools Association

Colin Bell, CEO, Council of British International Schools

David Woodgate, CEO, Independent Schools Bursars Association

Richard Harman, CEO, Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools