THE county council explored whether it could help parents of privately educated children avoid paying tax.

Families have been asking if they can pay their private school fees via the council in order to dodge the VAT that will be added to fees from January 1, 2025.

Worcestershire education chief David Chambers said the 20 per cent increase in VAT on private schools will take a number of families “over the barrier” of affordability.

Speaking at a full council meeting of Worcestershire County Council on Thursday (November 7), he said a lot of people have emailed him about the subject.

SCHOOL: Bromsgrove School, which Cllr Kit Taylor said would be affected by the taxSCHOOL: Bromsgrove School, which Cllr Kit Taylor said would be affected by the tax (Image: Picture Prince/Wikimedia Commons)

“A number of emails have been a serious question - ‘would the council be prepared to pay the total bill including VAT, in order that we could claim the VAT back, and then the parents pay us the balance of the fee they would otherwise have paid the school?’

“It will not surprise you to hear I spoke to the chief finance officer and Adam [Johnston, strategic director for children’s services] about it and they explored the possibility but it’s not possible for us to do that. 

“And we now know there are a reasonably substantial number of parents who are going to withdraw their children from private education because it just takes them over the barrier.

“And as many of us will know in this room, many of the parents - and my daughter and her husband are among them - did send their children to private school but I can’t tell you the last time they went overseas as a family on holiday.

READ MORE: More than 6,600 Worcestershire students to be affected by new tax

“It’s what we all prioritise and we’re all entitled to prioritise our lives as we think.

“But 20 per cent is a huge increase plus, say, a five per cent increase in the annual school fees. That is clearly going to have an impact on us.”

Cllr Kit Taylor said the Labour government’s policy would affect Bromsgrove School and could also affect children with special education needs.

He asked if the county council is able to handle the impact of the VAT increase.

Cllr Chambers said it wouldn’t be something the council couldn’t cope with but added: “We will have to wait and see.

“I suspect we won’t see a huge impact in January, when the 20 per cent VAT comes into force, it may be September.”

The Treasury said the tax is expected to raise £1.725billion a year, to help improve education and outcomes for young people.