It comes as the government have subjected private schools to 20% VAT
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00:005, 6, 7, 8
00:03Even when it's all comes crashing through
00:07At MEPA Academy in Maidstone, creativity is at the heart of everything.
00:11But some parents are now having to get creative to afford their children's school fees.
00:16Since the start of January, independent schools have had to pay VAT at the standard rate of 20%,
00:21ending a long-standing exemption.
00:24For headmistress Mandy Ellen, this has been challenging.
00:27We're a small school, we're independent, and the type of students that we have here
00:31are the students that struggle in mainstream school.
00:34So we have working class parents that are doing everything they can
00:39to pay for their child to come to our specialist school,
00:42and a specialist in performing arts.
00:44So I already know how hard it is for the parents,
00:48and then to have the VAT on top,
00:52I just knew that some wouldn't be able to cope with it.
00:56Most fee-paying schools in Kent are not passing on the full cost of VAT onto parents.
01:01The schools we surveyed are increasing fees by an average of 13.6%.
01:06Polling shows that the majority of the public supports Labour's decision
01:09to end the VAT exemption for private schools.
01:12But the schools themselves, and many opposition MPs, say it's unfair to tax education in this way.
01:17I've had a large number of letters and emails about the VAT increase,
01:23not just about the principle of it, which is wrong, but also about the rushed implementation,
01:27bringing it in in the middle of a school year in January.
01:30Well, this idea that the government has that they're going to take the money
01:33and use it to support state schools, I mean, firstly, that's not the way government finances work.
01:38You don't hypothecate a tax and pay for a particular thing with it.
01:41No taxes work like that.
01:43Back at NEPA, Mandy will have to face the music for now.
01:46I would have to close the school if I had to absorb the VAT.
01:51So I have had to add it on to every parent, unfortunately.
01:56The government said its mission is to break down barriers to opportunity
01:59and ensure every child has the best life chances.
02:02Eimear Murrow, KMTV.