13 hours Ago By Calum Ross
Fettes College and George Watson’s College have become the latest prominent Scottish private schools to announce the extent of fee rises linked to VAT. Fettes said its prices would go up by 7 per cent as a result of the ending of the VAT exemption for private schools from January. The school, which counts former prime minister Tony Blair among its ex-pupils, said its decision to absorb the rest of the 20 per cent tax would result in it being in deficit in the short term.
George Watson’s, meanwhile, has told parents its fees will rise by 15 per cent. However, George Watson’s also said it hopes to avoid further fee increases for the 2025/26 school year, and is working towards rises of no more than 3 per cent in the subsequent two years, 2026/27 and 2027/28. The announcements from both Edinburgh schools come after The Scotsman revealed this week that Gordonstoun in Moray is raising its fees by up to 15.
67 per cent, while parents of pupils at the Mary Erskine School and Stewart’s Melville College have been asked to pay 16.2 per cent extra from January. Edinburgh Academy is hiking fees by 18 per cent, and there will be a 15.
2 per cent increase at St George’s, also in the Scottish capital. Fettes said it had told the UK government in a consultation over the VAT policy that a “negligible number” of schools will be able to simply absorb the cost of VAT, particularly given the earlier-than-expected implementation, from January. Lady Morag Wise, chair of the governors at Fettes, said: “The government’s imposition of VAT on school fees has understandably caused a great deal of uncertainty and concern amongst parents up and down the country.
“The governors’ decision is based on our commitment to maintaining the core Fettes offer, including our full boarding ethos and the dual pathway of International Baccalaureate and A Levels in sixth form while remaining good value, which our parents expect. “This is only made possible by the responsible stewardship of the school’s finances, which will, of course, continue.” Fees at Fettes for day pupils in the senior school had been £13,150 per autumn term, but will now rise to £14,075 per spring and summer terms, inclusive of VAT.
The Scotsman reported earlier this week how the majority of private schools in Scotland were in deficit in their more recent published accounts, including Fettes and the group that includes George Watson’s. The UK government has said the ending of the VAT exemption will raise £1.6 billion a year for reinvestment in the state education sector.
In an interview with Sky News this week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer denied his government was engaging in “class war”. He said: “I do know that people watching this will save hard to send their child to a private school because they think that is the best thing for their child, but every single parent wants opportunity and aspiration for their child. “And I think that we haven’t had the right number of teachers in basic subjects, maths etc, in our state secondary schools.
I am not prepared to tolerate that for our state schools.”.
