Foreign Office asks private schools to offer discounted fees for diplomats’ children following Labour’s VAT raid_Nhy
The Foreign Office has pleaded with private schools to offer discounted fees to diplomats’ children amid Labour’s tax raid.
Many parents working for the department send their youngsters to British boarding schools while they undertake postings in other countries.
Data shows more than £13.8million of taxpayer cash went on subsidising private school fees for 500 diplomats’ children last year.
However, it is feared the Government’s new VAT on private school fees, which comes into effect in January, will now impact its own staff.
The subsidy for fees is capped, so any fee rises above this resulting from the levy may be passed on to families.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has written to dozens of top boarding schools asking for them to offer diplomats a discount on their children’s fees.
Private school fees will be subject to VAT from January when Labour ends an exemption for the provision of education, Rachel Reeves has said (pictured with Kemi Badenoch)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office government building on Whitehall in the Westminster district of London in June 2022
In an email, the FCDO said: ‘I am enquiring whether you would consider providing a discount to include FCDO families.
‘As you may be aware, FCDO staff and their families are subject to regular movements to and from overseas postings, in the same way as military families.
‘By offering a discount, inclusion on this list would help make your school more attractive to prospective parents.’
The letter also asked schools to provide details of their plans to deal with the Government’s tax raid, which will hit private schools with VAT from January 1, 2025.
‘Separately, we are hearing concern from our families about [the] impact of the Government’s proposal to remove the exemption from VAT for private school fees,’ the email said.
It added that staff would find it ‘helpful to understand any plans your school may be considering in relation to this.’
It is understood the email in question was sent by the FCDO’s HR department and was never approved by ministers.
The FCDO denied any link between the requests for discounts and the VAT policy change.
A spokesman for the Independent Schools Council said: ‘It is somewhat surprising for the Government to ask that it be effectively exempted from the fee rises it has caused.
‘The extra costs to the Government are because of the VAT policy it rushed through against the advice of tax and teaching experts.’
An FCDO spokesman said: ‘There will be no exemptions for diplomats on VAT for private school fees and the FCDO is not asking schools for special treatment in relation to this policy.
‘This is not and has never been government policy.’
