VAT on private school fees has not caused pupil exodus, says Bridget Phillipson

Adding VAT to private school fees has failed to trigger an exodus of pupils into the state sector despite widespread speculation that it would, the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson , has said. The Labour government applied 20% VAT to private school fees from the start of 2025. They had previously been exempt from the tax. Newly published admissions data for England showed there had been no influx towards state schools since then. Phillipson said: “The predicted exodus from private schools simply hasn’t happened and today’s data proves it. Critics warned state schools would be swamped with new pupils. They were wrong. They said private schools would close en masse. They haven’t. “We are rebalancing the system to focus on the 94% of kids in state schools, a majority that has been sidelined for too long.” The admissions data is the first since VAT was added, taken from applications to state schools made in October last year for places in the school year starting next September. The former chancellor Jeremy Hunt was among those who predicted that up to 90,000 children could enter the state sector after the addition of VAT. But the figures from the Department for Education (DfE) actually showed a decline in overall applications for both primary and secondary school places this year, while nearly 85% of families received their first choice of secondary school place, higher than in 2025 and 2024. …