Top Jewish private school to close after Labour VAT hike on fees

Immanuel College, in Bushey, Hertfordshire, will close its doors for good in August due to “significant and sustained” financial pressures, governors said.

The £29,700-a-year independent school also blamed Rachel Reeves’ employer National Insurance increase and the 20 per cent VAT added to private school fees from January 2025.

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Despite being ranked as the country’s best-performing Jewish school in The Sunday Times Parent Power Guide in 2025, pupil numbers at the school have fallen in recent years.

The country's only mainstream Jewish private senior school also recorded a £2m loss in the year to August 2025, its latest accounts show.

Similar financial woes have also plagued Immanuel College's prep school, which meant it was forced to close last year.

Daniel Levy, chairman of governors at the 35-year-old college, said: “The introduction of VAT on independent school fees has added further strain to an already challenged sector.

“This has been compounded by prolonged high inflation, increased National Insurance contributions and declining pupil numbers.

“Additionally, the growing popularity of Jewish state schools has contributed to enrolment falling to unsustainable levels.”

Mr Levy said closing the mixed school, which educates around 360 pupils, was an “incredibly painful moment for our entire community”.

Oliver Dowden, the MP for Hertsmere and a former deputy prime minister, wrote on X: "Very sad to learn of the closure of the brilliant Immanuel College at the end of the current academic year. A real blow to Bushey and the Jewish community.

"Yet another victim of Labour’s VAT raid on private schools. All this will add more pressure to local state schools and risks depriving Jewish students of access to a Jewish school."

The announcement of the closure comes despite governors saying there was “adequate working capital to continue” in their latest annual report.

Rabbi Yoni Golker, the school’s deputy head, wrote an opinion piece in February on “why Jewish schools matter more than ever in 2026”.

Pupils will hear details about the impending closure during a full-school assembly on Wednesday, the first day back after the school holidays.

Mr Levy added: “We are working closely with schools across both the Jewish and wider independent sectors to help identify and secure the best onward pathways for every pupil in the event of closure.”

Immanuel College will join more than 100 schools that have been forced to close since Labour imposed a VAT raid on school fees last year.

A survey of 1,150 schools by the Independent Schools Council found that almost 25,000 pupils had been forced out of private schools since Labour came to power.

The Department for Education has said that the introduction of VAT would “help fund public services, including supporting the 94pc of children in state schools, to help ensure excellence everywhere for every child”.