ISA president Lord Lexden condemns Government’s heedless approach to struggling schools

Lord Lexden has again condemned the Government’s imposition of VAT on independent school fees. In a recent exchange in the House of Lords, he highlighted the Government’s refusal to acknowledge and correct the damage its policy is wreaking on independent schools, particularly the nearly 700 schools in the Independent Schools Association (ISA), of which he is president, many of which are small, not wealthy, and at risk of closure as a result.

He asked the following questions:

“What has the Government to say to the mother of a child with special needs whose independent school is closing because of their education tax? She writes to me: ‘Shell-shocked doesn’t cover it. My child is autistic. State secondary was an utter disaster. She felt safe and happy. Her heart is broken’.”

“What has it to say to the head of a small independent school in Derbyshire with 120 pupils who writes to me: ‘I am battling tirelessly to save my life’s work’.”?

“How would members of the Government feel if they were forced to move their child to a new school in the middle of an academic year, particularly if exams were in the offing.”?

“How should the sudden imposition of an unprecedented education tax on 1 January, after a rushed consultation last summer when schools were on holiday, be described? Just one word does it: cruel.”

The minister who responded to these questions failed to give helpful or constructive answers, but did ‘pay tribute’ to the questioner’s “involvement in this sector”.

The entire text of this debate is available in The Lords Hansard for 13 March 2025.