Farnham headteacher warns pupils may have to leave his school in January due to planned VAT on school fees
Jon Hetherington tells us he is "really, really worried" about the policy.
A Farnham headmaster who leads a Special Educational Needs school says some of his pupils may be forced to leave next January, when a government policy placing VAT on school fees is expected to come in.
Surrey's six Conservative MPs, including Shadow Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, have written an open letter to the Chancellor raising their concerns about the proposal with the document saying it carries "significant risks, particularly for some of the country's most vulnerable children with special educational needs and disabilities"
The government is planning to introduce a 20% VAT on school fees in January.
Currently, around 70% of students at More House have Education, Health and Care Plans, meaning their fees are funded by local authorities. However, the remaining percentage have their fees self-funded.
Jon Hetherington, who is the Headmaster of More House, an SEND school in Farnham, said that this increase in fees could cause issues for their parents. "They're choosing the independent school sector because they need to, they see it as an essential.
"It's those families that we're worried are going to get really hit who don't have the reserves, are perhaps trying really hard just to fund the school fees. Some of our parents at More House have re-mortgaged their house, lots of people in the family are chipping together just to make it work."
Mr Hetherington added that he is "really worried" about pupils who need additional support having to re-enter the state sector, and that he thinks the government over-estimate how much money schools like his have.
"The government suggest that independent schools are really rich and can just soak up the costs. I can tell you categorically that is not the case for schools like mine. We're a registered charity, most of our income is public funds. We have to look after our costs really, really carefully.
"That transfer, especially of the most vulnerable children in our society, back into a state sector that isn't ready to meet their needs... regardless of what money may or may not go into the state sector, I think it's a really frightening mistake, I'm really really worried about it.
Both the Treasury and the Department For Education have been approached for a comment.