Parents must prove that they cannot afford the fees for their children to transfer to a state school

In order to get a place at a state school, parents must prove that they can no longer afford the school fees for a private school.

An email from Buckinghamshire Council seen by the Telegraph shows that a mother was told her daughter had been rejected from two local secondary schools because “they were full”.

She was then asked to provide evidence of her financial situation so that her daughter could be considered for another school in the area.

The mother, whose name wishes to remain anonymous, had applied for a place at two schools through the municipality’s online portal because she feared she would no longer be able to afford her daughter’s places at her current private school due to a government VAT raid.

The email from Buckinghamshire Council said: “Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you places at your preferred schools as they are full.”

The email continued: “In these circumstances, we would normally advocate [the child] should stay at their current school. However, if you can demonstrate that you can no longer afford private school fees, please let us know so that we can make an allocation without preferential treatment from the local authority.”

Councils are not allowed to ask about the financial situation of parents

All children in England between the ages of five and 16 have a legal right to a free place at a state school.

The State School Admissions Code also specifies that in some cases local authorities may request additional information from parents if schools are overcrowded.

However, the code states that councils may not request information about a family’s financial situation, criminal record, language skills, disabilities or health status.

Buckinghamshire Council’s website states that it has received a “large number of applications” for schools in Aylesbury and High Wycombe and that places are currently overfilled.

Council data shows that at the most recent count in July, only five of Buckinghamshire’s 38 state secondary schools had places available for Year 7 pupils, while only four places were available for Year 8 pupils and three for Year 9.

This comes amid concerns that some local authorities could be inundated with applications for places at state schools if parents can no longer afford fees following the decision to charge VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent on private school fees from 1 January 2025.

The government is basing its decision on estimates by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that up to 40,000 children could be displaced from private schools as a result of these plans.

However, education officials warn that there are likely to be large regional differences and that municipalities with many top-class secondary schools will see the largest increase in requests for places.

Schools cover part of the costs

A number of well-known private schools announced last week that they will increase their fees from January, when the tax increase comes into effect.

Eton College was the first college to announce it would pass the 20 per cent VAT on to parents in full, meaning fees will rise to £63,000 in January.

Others have decided to cover at least part of the costs. St Paul’s School in central London announced a 9 percent fee increase from January “as a result of ongoing efforts to keep costs down.”

The mother who received the email from Buckinghamshire Council told the Telegraph that her daughters’ private school had also decided to cover part of the VAT.

The school announced that it would increase fees for sixth form students by £1,200 from January, but the mother expressed concern that the school might increase the fees again at a later date, which would be too expensive for the family.

Council apologizes for “choice of language”

A spokesman for Buckinghamshire City Council said they “would like to apologise for the choice of words” and stressed that it did not reflect any formal policy.

Anita Cranmer, the council’s cabinet member for education and children’s services, said: “We believe this wording has been taken from personal correspondence and does not reflect any formal policy and we apologise for the choice of words. We are happy to confirm this directly with the family and will not be seeking personal financial information from them or other Buckinghamshire families.

“The intention in this case was to obtain confirmation as to whether the family is giving up the child’s current school place and definitely seeking a place during the current school year even though the preferred school is full, or whether they are staying at their current school, which is often the case when families are unable to obtain a place at their preferred school.”

She added that Buckinghamshire Council “has seen a higher number of ‘mid-term’ applications in recent months from families with children in the independent sector”.

“We have been able to offer a number of children from private schools a place at their preferred school to which they applied ‘in the current year’, but this is not always possible, as in this case. If a family wishes to transfer from their current school despite there being no place available at their preferred school, we will consider an offer at a school with vacancies that is not the preferred school,” she said.

“We have sufficient capacity in our schools across the country, but this varies in some areas. Therefore, we are able to offer some, but not all, families their preferred placement when they request a move ‘during the current school year.'”

“Education tax will be a disaster”

Greg Smith, Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, told The Telegraph: “The Labour Government’s financial attack on parents who send their children to private schools will push thousands of children out of the private sector and overburden the state system.”

“It is the government that must provide the resources to ensure that the public sector can cope with this influx of students.”

Damian Hinds, the shadow education secretary, told The Telegraph: “Labour’s education tax, introduced in the middle of the school year, will be a disaster.”

“Thousands of students will no longer be able to afford private schools. With the state sector lacking the capacity to accommodate these students and the Labour government having no plan to address this, it will ultimately be parents, teachers and students who will pay the price.

“We will hold this new Labour government to account on their behalf.”

A government spokesman said: “We want to ensure that all children have the best chance of success in life. Removing tax relief for private schools will help raise the revenue we need to fund our education priorities for next year, such as hiring 6,500 new teachers.”

“Since 2000, there has been an increase in private sector fees of around 75 per cent and the number of children in private schools has remained stable. Therefore, we do not expect the removal of tax relief for private schools to have a significant impact on the public sector.”