Private schools’ VAT challenge thrown out by Court of Appeal
A group of private schools, pupils and parents have lost a Court of Appeal challenge over the introduction of VAT onto school fees.
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Several schools, children who attend them, and their parents previously brought legal action against the Treasury, claiming the policy is incompatible with human rights law.
Three judges dismissed the High Court challenge in June last year.
The schools, children and parents then appealed, telling appeal judges in January that the addition of VAT would render the schools "unviable".
But in a decision on Friday, the Court of Appeal dismissed the challenge.
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In a 44-page judgment, Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord Justice Singh and Lady Justice Falk said that the Government had given reasonable reasons for not exempting low-cost private schools from VAT, including that it "would have serious detrimental consequences".
They continued: "We acknowledge that the measure may have a serious impact on the group one claimants if they are unable to afford private education which accords with their religious convictions, but it is important to bear in mind that they have the option of home schooling if free education in the state sector is not acceptable to them."
At the hearing in January, Bruno Quintavalle, representing Emmanuel School in Derby, and a group of Christian schools, said the High Court wrongly found that the VAT measure did not impair the very essence of the right to an effective education.
He said: "What matters for the present claim is that individual rights, not necessarily those of a larger group, whether termed 'Evangelical Christians' or otherwise, have been interfered with."
However, Sir James Eadie KC, representing the Treasury, HMRC and the Department for Education, said in written submissions: "A tax on an optional service that a consumer can elect not to use - a fortiori where, as here, the state makes the same service available for free for all children - does not interfere with the property rights of a person who may or does wish to purchase the service."