ISC response to the proposal that a 25% tax should be levied on the fees charged by independent schools

"This is an ill-conceived idea which would irrevocably damage the good work our schools do for education in the UK, such as the £760million spent annually on fee assistance and the many thousands of successful partnership projects with state schools. A tax on independent schools would drive up fees and drive out the low and middle income families in those schools at present.

“Forcing independent schools to introduce huge fee rises would ultimately heap more pressure on to the state sector, as families move across to state schools and competition for places in already over-subscribed schools grows.

“Currently, the saving to the taxpayer through the education of children and young people in the independent sector is £4 billion a year."

Read the House of Lords debate here.