The Independent Schools Council is to launch legal action against the government’s decision to levy VAT on independent school fees.

The ISC will be working with human rights barrister Lord Pannick KC, alongside Paul Luckhurst from Blackstone Chambers and the law firm Kingsley Napley.

Legal proceedings will begin shortly and the case will centre around breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998.

Julie Robinson, chief executive of ISC, said: “This is a decision that has not been taken lightly and has been under consideration for many months. At all points throughout this debate, our focus has been on the children in our schools who would be negatively impacted by this policy. This focus remains and we will be defending the rights of families who have chosen independent education, but who may no longer be able to do so as a direct result of an unprecedented education tax.”

Robert Lewis, a partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya, commented: “The fact that the ISC is taking this action is an indication of how problematic this policy is for the independent school sector. There are ways in which the policy has been implemented that could have been less punitive to independent schools and the families who send their children to such schools, such as implementing the measure to align with the academic year or staging the VAT charges over time. That said, challenges to primary legislation are extremely difficult, particularly a Finance Act in relation to a policy that was in the government’s manifesto and heavily trailed before the election.”