Parents selling homes to pay school fees

  • 15th October 2024

Caroline Voaden MP

The Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, Caroline Voaden, has warned that some parents are selling their homes in order to be able to afford future VAT on school fees for their children with special needs, Devon Air Radio has reported.

The parents in question are not wealthy, Voaden told attendees at debate in Westminster Hall.

Voaden said: “I have heard from several parents whose children could not cope in state schools. They live with autism or other mental health challenges. But they are thriving in those small private settings. These small independent schools, whose fees are as low as they can make them, offer smaller class sizes, fewer class transitions during the day and more emphasis on wellbeing and creativity.”

“They are scraping together the fees so that their children can attend a school where they can thrive.

“One told me that she had sold her house and given away the family pet in order to move into a flat. She changed job to be able to afford the fees, and she now buys everything second hand.

“Another said that they had also sold their home and moved house to afford the fees at their local Steiner school as their children had also failed to cope with mainstream schooling.”

“Many of them have already had a difficult start in life. Many of them have experience of the care system, our failing mental health system and a state school system completely unable to cope with all their additional or complex needs.

“Yes, the state school system desperately needs investment – we know that. We know that the provision for SEND is in a disastrous state, nowhere more so than in Devon, and the chronic underfunding of councils by the previous government has decimated SEND provision.”

Voaden added that the government should look elsewhere to raise funds for its plan to spend more on the state education sector: “Dare I say that the Liberal Democrats had several suggestions for tax-raising options in our election manifesto that do not seem to have been considered yet by this government?

“May I humbly suggest that a tax on social media companies might be a good place to start, given the impact that they have on the mental health of our young people.”

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