‘I can barely afford my son’s school fees under Labour – so what about my daughter?’

Are you concerned about private school fees under Labour? Email your comments to money@telegraph.co.uk

A generation ago, someone like Jeremy Prout, a consultant for 20 years, would have comfortably been able to send his children to private school. As it stands, he can just about afford the fees for his son, 11, and daughter, eight.

The north London primary school charges £5,000 a term – a bill that will rise to £8,000 when his eldest moves to secondary. But Mr Prout, 57, worries that those figures may soon rise by a fifth if Labour enacts its much-discussed plans to impose VAT on private school fees.

“I’ve got my head buried in the sand and it’s hard to say whether I’d take my son out,” he says. “My biggest worry is that I might not be able to afford my daughter’s fees.”

Much of what a Labour government will do when it begins rolling out policies remains unclear – thanks to the party’s vague manifesto. But Sir Keir Starmer has remained steadfast in his commitment to impose 20pc VAT on private school fees, a tax raid many fear will be passed on to parents in the form of higher bills.

Now that Starmer is in Number 10, anxious parents with children in private school are preparing for the worst. Some are raiding pensions early or taking on extra work to afford fees, while others are already contemplating pulling their kids out.

Mr Prout’s wife, Maryam, is an anaesthetic nurse. The couple hope they might be able to secure a place in a grammar school for their daughter, but local options are rare. “A lot of ordinary people make sacrifices in terms of children’s education – to me and to my wife there seems nothing more important,” he says.

“My car is 17 years old and we don’t take lots of foreign holidays. I’m not complaining about that, but if I’m struggling as a consultant of over 20 years then how on earth will anyone else in a similar position be able to do it?”

A report by the Independent Schools Council (ISC), which represents around 1,300 independent schools, claimed the proposed tax raid would be most greatly felt by the “strivers and savers” who work hardest to pay the fees and force some 40,000 children out of the sector. A survey of parents found one in five would “definitely” withdraw their children from private school if fees jumped by 20pc.

The ISC added that smaller independent schools without the large endowments enjoyed by legacy institutions would struggle to survive.

‘I made a financial plan, now I’m dealing with the unexpected’

Melissa Wilkes, 42, currently pays £15,000 a year to send her 10-year-old daughter to a private school in Worcestershire. The school has already increased fees by 7pc due to inflationary pressures. When her daughter reaches secondary school age, the annual fee will rise to £20,000.

Although schools are not obliged to pass on the added cost to parents in the form of higher annual fees, families fear it is inevitable.

“I haven’t looked for myself, but other parents have said they have looked at local state schools and there are no places,” she says. “I’m unsure what to make of the landscape at the moment. I hope parents and schools can come up with a solution.”

Neither Ms Wilkes, nor her husband Chris, went to independent schools. To afford the school fees Ms Wilkes works two jobs serving as head of retail for a motoring company, while also running a home fragrance business.

She says: “You make a financial plan when you send a child to private school just as you would when taking out a mortgage.

“Now we’re dealing with this unexpected and very high increase. We will continue to put our daughter’s education first, but we’ll be making cutbacks. There won’t be any new cars, we won’t move house, and holidays will be under review.”

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak described Labour’s plans as “an attack on the hard-working aspiration of millions of people”, while his predecessors Lord Hague and Sir Iain Duncan Smith have criticised the proposals as “vindictive” and “monstrous”.

Many independent schools offer bursaries to struggling parents if their child is particularly talented in academics, sport, or music. Some offer discounts to parents willing to pay the fees upfront, making it easier for schools to get a return on the investment.

‘We’ve already extended the mortgage – we’re out of options’

Lisa* from Taunton, who asked not to be named as she is a serving police officer, has two daughters in private school, aged 12 and 14. Both children are on choral scholarships and bursaries which knock 60pc off the annual bill. But even with the financial support Lisa and her husband spend roughly £16,000 on fees each year.

Waking up to the news that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour had swept to a historic majority, the couple sat down to discuss whether they could weather fees increasing by 20pc. “If it does come in soon we will have to remove both of our children at the end of year 11 rather than the end of sixth form,” Lisa says.

“My first thoughts were that I was really, really sad. I’m quite angry because I feel it’s massively unfair what they are proposing to do. It is absolutely hypocritical of Starmer, he had that opportunity [a bursary], why should he take that away from my children and others like them?”

Like others, the couple have looked at the local comprehensive, only to find it oversubscribed. “We have effectively released two places for other children,” Lisa says. “It’s an exceptional school, but it doesn’t offer the choral music that my children are good at and benefit from.”

The couple have already extended their mortgage, and are now weighing up other more desperate measures to find the money to pay the rise in fees from added VAT. Lisa says: “We are looking at raiding our pension to do this. I can technically retire in November, having done 25 years, and get my pension at that point, but it will be significantly less than if I stay the full 30 years, so I will be putting myself in a lesser financial position to keep them in school.”

Labour hopes the revenue raised by charging VAT to private schools will raise £1.5bn a year and fund an additional 6,500 teachers in the state sector. But for parents like Patrick Neary from Worcester, the added fees will push already stretched household budgets to their limits.

“The proposed levy will probably result in us choosing not to have more children as we will be less likely to afford their education,” says Mr Neary, 34. “Fundamentally my daughter’s school is chosen by hard-working – often in the public sector – parents who value small class sizes and high-quality wraparound care.

“Starmer is talking about the future and positivity but clearly a lot of people are not feeling positive about the future in this country because they are not investing in it with their own families. That is what is actually happening.”

*Name has been changed.