private schools | Schools Week

Private special school fees capped in ‘profit before children’ crackdown

Plan for price bands and national standards follows award-winning exposure by Schools Week of soaring private sector spend

Government considers charging private schools more for inspections

The watchdog currently subsidises two thirds of inspection costs for ‘non-association’ private schools, but government is ‘considering options to close the gap’

Head of faith school which segregated staff banned

Rabia Boys and Girls School chair Zafar Iqbal Khan disqualified from running schools

Private special schools charging councils £100k fees failed standards checks

Private equity-owned independent special schools which charge councils fees of up to £131,000 a year are among hundreds that have failed Ofsted standards checks, Schools Week can reveal. More than 250 non-associated private schools have failed to meet independent school standards in inspections carried out since September 2021, Schools Week analysis shows. We found: 84 schools that did not […]

Is VAT on fees really to blame for private school closures?

A deluge of media fury has blamed recent private school closures on the government’s decision to impose VAT on school fees. One commentator even claimed the move was “akin to what we have seen from Vladimir Putin”. But a Schools Week investigation has found that fewer than a dozen schools have publicly blamed the new VAT policy for […]

Private school body takes legal action against government on VAT

The Independent Schools Council said the decision ‘has not been taken lightly’ but it is ‘defending the rights of families who have chosen independent education’

IfS: Labour private schools plan could boost public purse by £1.3bn

Think tank predicts only ‘small movement’ of pupils into state schools if Starmer enacts VAT plan

Limit private school fees and require more outreach, says think tank

EDSK warns against Labour’s plan to lift charitable status, but says private school reform needed to ‘improve their image’

Labour’s private school VAT raid sums may be £600m out, says think tank

EDSK says calculations are ‘flawed’, but Labour defends costings of plan to remove charitable status