Why any new legislation related to VAT and school fees will affect a much larger proportion of the Charedi community than the general population
Dr Carli Lessof
Back in July, one of the Government’s first statements addressed “unfairness in the tax system”, announcing an end to “tax breaks for private schools from the start of 2025, to better invest in state education”. If legislation passes, VAT exemption on private school fees will end on January 1st, bringing higher costs for parents and schools.
When we imagine private schools, we tend to think of high fees, small class sizes and better school facilities – in science, sports, drama and the arts – which lead to improved educational outcomes and a richer school experience. We also think of families that send their children to private schools as more privileged, though nearly a quarter of pupils receive some kind of bursary or scholarship, and many parents make financial sacrifices to prioritise their children’s education. Although simplistic, this is a reasonable characterisation of the private schools many Jewish parents choose, whether in mixed faith environments like the City of London, Haberdashers or North London Collegiate, or in ‘mainstream’ Jewish schools such as Kerem or Immanuel College.
However, this picture of private schools and private school pupils doesn’t describe the reality of independent schools in the Charedi (or Strictly Orthodox) community, where many Jewish families are markedly more disadvantaged and have more school-aged children than the average British family. The schools themselves are also different in important respects, with their focus on religious rather than secular education, limited school facilities, and lower, or sometimes optional, school fees.
These differences are widely debated. On the other hand, few people know of another remarkable difference: a very high proportion of schools in the Charedi community in the UK are classified as private schools. This means the proposed legislation will have differential and unanticipated consequences for Charedi families. So, as the Government consults on its proposals to introduce VAT on school fees, JPR has collated the latest data from the Department for Education’s School Census for 2023/24, to show the clear difference in the balance between state and private schools across Jewish Britain.
How many Jewish children attend Jewish private schools in the UK?
The latest UK School Census shows that about 36,000 Jewish children attend Jewish schools in the UK, an extraordinary growth from the 5,000 who did so in the 1950s when records began. This growth shows the value that Jewish schools have in community life in Britain. However, the educational experience of Haredi children and other Jewish children in the UK is so different, that we need to look at the data for each group separately.
Outside the Charedi community, a minority of Jewish children (43%) attend Jewish schools. Furthermore, just 7% of these children (around 1,100 children aged 4-19) are educated in Jewish schools in the private sector, making the overall distribution of children between Jewish independent and state schools broadly consistent with the national average for the private and state sectors.
In stark contrast, virtually all Charedi children in the UK are educated in a Jewish setting and of those Charedi children who attend Jewish schools, a staggering 81% (or 17,500 children aged 4-19) are educated in the private sector. This figure is much higher than the percentage of children attending private schools in the general population.
The preponderance of private schools also varies across the major Charedi areas: in Gateshead, there is no state provision at all, so 100% of children attend private Charedi schools; in Stamford Hill, 92% of children attending a Jewish school do so in private schools; in Manchester, it is 78%; and in Barnet, 59%. This final figure shows that even in North-West London, where state provision for the Haredi community is greater than elsewhere, the proportion of children attending private schools still far exceeds the national average.
However, in apparent contradiction to the need for additional school places, the Haredi community sees many obstacles to opening new state schools. Indeed, no new state Charedi school has opened anywhere in the UK since 2014. So, increased demand has been met, either by the growth of independent private Haredi schools – which has made it vulnerable to this new legislation – or by a greater number of children falling outside the registered school system.
What are the implications?
At the very least, this structural difference in the balance between state and private schools means that any new legislation related to VAT and school fees will affect a much larger proportion of the Charedi community than the general population, and will have differential effects across areas. This, alongside differences in the characteristics of Haredi families and schools, raises a number of important questions.
How will the introduction of VAT impact the most disadvantaged families, particularly if the new regulations require standardised fees?
Will Charedi schools be hit even harder than most because the lower expenditure on buildings and facilities will mean less VAT can be reclaimed?
How will a more difficult financial environment for private schools affect decisions about the provision of education for Charedi children? Will it add pressure for increased state provision or have the contrary effect of further distancing from state regulation?
How will this affect the tensions between the delivery of the national curriculum and educational standards and the wish of minority communities to fully control the education their children receive, even if this means operating outside the state sector?
The Government has made exceptions for some pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan who attend private schools that offer specialist support that cannot be provided by mainstream state-funded education. Will an additional exception be made for children educated in faith schools who feel their religious and cultural needs are not met in the mainstream state-funded education system?
New government legislation about VAT in schools is just one of several ways in which the Charedi school system may be brought into focus in the coming years. Gathering accurate, relevant data to inform these discussions is essential, and we hope that the forthcoming bulletin on the number of Jewish children in Jewish schools, alongside new research about the characteristics and well-being of the Charedi community in Britain, will play their part in ensuring this is a meaningful debate
Dr Carli Lessof
Senior Research Fellow
Dr Carli Lessof
Senior Research Fellow
Carli is a Senior Research Fellow at JPR, responsible for JPR’s community statistics programme, online research panel, and monitoring and evaluation. She completed her PhD...
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Adam Possener
JPR Student Fellow
Adam Possener
JPR Student Fellow
