WARDEN’ S REPORT
SIR RICHARD STAGG( G, 1969- 73)
The last six months have seen a series of measures introduced by the government, which seem designed to make it increasingly difficult to sustain a successful independent education sector in the UK.
Before last year’ s election, the Labour Party was very clear about its intention to impose VAT on school fees. So I have no complaint about their transparency. I fear, however, that they have significantly misjudged the likely impact of this policy.
In our case, our costs will increase( as a result of VAT, business rates, National Insurance, etc.) by some £ 7 million in a full year – for a school which last year generated fees of about £ 35 million. Our fees will need to go up significantly. Our education will become less affordable. Our Bursary Programme will come under added pressure.
Even more worrying is the likely impact on the educational ecosystem in which we exist – in particular our feeder schools. Boarding prep schools were already facing significant challenges, even before the latest changes. They now face a sharply more difficult financial situation, to add to the broader social shift away from boarding at the age of eight. Schools are already closing. More will follow.
Some advocates of this policy argue that it is comparable to the decision to abolish the Assisted Places Scheme in 1998. But this was, in effect, the removal of a subsidy. The new policy is radically different: the imposition of additional net costs of some 20 % for most independent schools. I think a better point of comparison might be the 1861 Clarendon Commission, which investigated the running of nine major schools( Winchester included) and led to the Public Schools Act of 1868. Dissatisfied with Winchester’ s response, in 1871 the government imposed changes on
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