Scotland 'disadvantaged on international stage' by Labour's England-centric private school VAT

Scotland has been ‘disadvantaged on the international stage’ after an England-centric introduction of VAT fees on private school fees, it has been claimed.

The head of the Scottish Council for Independent Schools (SCIS) said Labour had only focused on the impact of schools such as Eton and Harrow, ignoring the specific needs of institutions north of the border.

Speaking at Holyrood’s education committee, Lorraine Davidson warned more fee-paying schools may now close.

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Ms Davidson told MSPs: “We did warn the UK Government we would be harder hit because families in Scotland don’t have the wealth levels of some parts of the South East of England, so affordability was always going to be an issue.”

Of the impact caused by increased school fees, she added: “We are now as a nation at a disadvantage on the international stage.”

Speaking about the introduction of VAT on fees brought in in January 2025, just months after Labour’s election victory, Ms Davidson said there were “assumptions made around the policy that somehow independent schools were a dripping roast and would be able to keep absorbing, absorbing, absorbing” costs such as VAT on fees.

As was revealed last year, private schools in Scotland have seen pupil numbers fall by an average of 10 per cent since Labour’s policy of charging VAT on fees was introduced.

Ms Davidson said some schools have lost as many as a fifth of their students, who are now being educated in the state sector.

SCIS figures suggest private schools contribute £500 million a year to the Scottish economy but that the number will fall.

She said: "This is a policy that is going to cost everybody in Scotland money.”

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While there were 28,870 pupils studying at independent schools in Scotland in the 2022/23 academic year, figures from the sector show that decreased to 27,781 in 2024/25.

Data from the SCIS further shows that fell again to 25,919 at the start of the 2025/26 school year.

Adding that “English education is a very different beast to Scottish education”, she accused politicians of making “assumptions” about the “the nature of independent schools and the nature of the sector”.

Ms Davidson said: “Labour politicians in the run up to the implementation were frequently referencing Eton, Harrow, Winchester, ‘they can absorb this, they can protect their families from this’.

“Those schools and the finances of those kind of schools just simply don’t exist in Scotland.

“The sector is completely different and it is not those schools that have paid the price for this policy.”

Committee convener Douglas Ross was critical of the UK government for failing to send a minister to answer questions from MSPs on the policy.

He said Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson had “refused” to appear, saying she believed it was a matter for the Treasury.

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Mr Ross added the Scottish Secretary had also “refused” to come, with the committee “eventually” receiving a letter from Dan Tomlinson, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.

“We invited the Education Secretary, she refused, suggesting it was a matter for the Treasury.

“We have found it very difficult, and quite frankly frustrating, that no UK Labour politician has been willing to come here to defend their policy,” Mr Ross said.