The High Court today ruled against parents and pupils from the award-winning Emmanuel School in Derby, the Branch Christian School in Yorkshire, The King’s School in Hampshire and the Wyclif Independent Christian School in South Wales and the schools themselves.
The Christian claimants, supported by the Christian Legal Centre, sought to judicially review the government’s amendment of the VAT Act 1994, arguing that it illegally discriminated against them and that the tax measure was unlawful and incompatible with their human rights under various articles of the European Convention on Human Rights by disproportionately interfering with their right to engage in private Christian education.
The Christian Claimants with the continued support of the Christian Legal Centre, plan to appeal the judgment. The Claimants (parents, pupils and the schools) were all part of the new low cost independent Christian education movement that seeks to provide true Christian education on a shoestring for not just Christian parents and children but other parents from other faith backgrounds typically in deprived areas typically with a disproportionate number of special educational needs children.
The case challenged the decisions of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, and ultimately the Finance Act 2025. Interested parties and interveners included: the Commissioner for HM Revenue and Customs, the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Philipson.
Ultimately the High Court found that it was for Parliament to make decisions about tax policy, and that their right to do so enjoyed a wide margin of discretion. The High Court acknowledged that Parliament’s decision would affect around 159, 000 pupils who fall into the bottom half of the household income distribution. It also accepted the government’s assessment that 3,000 pupils would be immediately displaced as a result of the new measures.
The High Court reasoned that while there is right to start and run private schools, there is no general obligation upon the government not to hinder access to private education.
The High Court granted permission to apply for judicial review, meaning that on the merits of the case, the court determined that the case had a reasonable prospect of success. The Court nevertheless dismissed the claim.
The government’s decision to impose VAT on the provision of education by independent schools has made the UK an outlier among the 46 Council of Europe States.
The Court also rejected the government’s assertion that VAT exemption was a subsidy or ‘tax break’, instead referring to it as a tax change.
The legal claim began after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a draft bill on 29 July 2024, which included plans to pass legislation through the Finance Bill for the 2024/2025 Budget which would amend the VAT Act 1994. Shortly following the hearing, the Finance Bill received Royal Assent and became the Finance Act 2025.
Private schools across the country are already beginning to close after the policy began to take effect on 1 January 2025 despite significant opposition.
A tax targeting private Christian education
The judgment makes no qualms about the fact that the purpose of the new tax is redistributive. It is intended to raise tax revenue from private educating families, to be then spent largely on public education, despite the fact that the Claimants already pay taxes towards public education as part of their general tax obligations. The government’s argument that these families are simply paying their fair share ignores the fact that private educating families are being asked to pay more taxes on public education than families who actually have their children in public schools. A targeted tax of this nature is by definition, discriminatory.
The High Court agreed that the discrimination complained of did fit within the ambit of Protocol 1, Article 2 (right to education), taken in conjunction with Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination). However, it found that the tax was justified as a revenue raising measure, and that Parliament had weighed the burden placed on private educating families and voted for the measure in any case. The Court declined to interfere with the decision-making process, arguing that there is “no process of legal reasoning which can justify one view in preference to the other.”
The perversion of the right to education
Our courts, including the European Court of Human Rights, have increasingly diluted the protections afforded to Christian parents in the area of education. Both domestically and internationally, this had led to a dystopian vision of education. While the courts have, for example, held that government’s are forbidden from charging fees to illegal migrants for public education and that it is discriminatory to deny migrants with unsettled status access to student loans for university, they have in this case allowed the government to target hard working Christian families struggling to pay their children’s school fees with additional tax burdens because of their desire for an authentically Christian education.
While the Court accepted the government’s argument that private Christian schools can become voluntarily aided schools, the reality that accepting government funds requires schools to fundamentally change the way they teach and what they teach. Private education is for many parents, the only way they feel secure that their children are receiving an authentically Christian education.
A father’s battle for Christian education
One parent bringing the claim was bookseller Stephen White.
Mr White has chosen to live in one of the most deprived areas of Bradford so that he can afford to send his four children to the Bradford Christian School based in the Yorkshire city.
Mr White, whose 14-year-old son, Josiah, was also a claimant in the case, said: “As Christians, we believe that it is our duty as parents to raise our children in line with our beliefs. This policy denies us this right and choice and must be challenged.”
He says the government’s policy is ‘unjust and ‘discriminatory’ and will force him to home-school his children as the heavy secularisation of state schools, and even Church of England schools, mean that his children would not be taught in line with the family’s Christian beliefs.
He accuses Labour of creating a “caricature of wealthy schools full of wealthy parents”, which is “not the reality”.
‘Pupils not from affluent backgrounds’
Headteachers at four independent Christian schools were also claimants in the case:
The Branch Christian School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire is an independent school providing Christian education for children aged 3 – 18 years.
Headteacher, Jill Holt, said ahead of the April hearing: “Most of our parents come to us because they want their child to be taught in a school that agrees with their Christian values. Whilst many parents of our students would feel compelled to home school if we were not able to remain open, most of our parents need to work which means they aren’t in a position to home school; additionally, many of them don’t feel adequately equipped to home school.
“The Government claims to be imposing the VAT to secure extra funding for state schools; the reality is that it would cost the government more if our students went to state schools as they give state schools over £7,000 per 5–16-year-old. The addition of VAT would be an increased burden for the parent of nearly £800. For some of our lower income families this is a significant amount. We keep our fees low to be able to give all parents, no matter their economic status, the right to choose the education for their child. In respect to small schools like ours that exist on very low fees, the argument just doesn’t add up.
“Due to the increase in cost to the parents, the impact could be that parents are priced out of having a choice to send their child to a school that has values in line with their Christian beliefs and the government is removing the parents right of choice.”
Wyclif Independent Christian school in South Wales (WICS), which is the only school of its type in the region. Launched in 1982 by two fathers who wanted to provide Christian education to the area, it now has 200 pupils, but is now preparing to be significantly impacted by the policy.
Adam Fairman, a Governor at WICS, said: “We have a long history of keeping Christian education affordable for all families who want it. We have joined this case to keep it that way as 20% VAT would put us out of reach of low income families.”
Caroline Santer, is Headteacher at The King’s School, Fair Oak, in Hampshire, said: “After over two months of waiting, this judgement comes as a huge disappointment, but we will continue to challenge the legality of this policy. Four times as many pupils as the government expected have left independent education, which means it is increasingly likely that no money will be raised by this policy for state schools, or housing as we have recently heard.
“As a small independent Christian school already struggling with extremely narrow profit margins, this legislation and the increase in business rates has hit us hard. We keep our fees low in order to be accessible to low income families who want to choose Christian education as is their right, but parents are finding the increase in school fees a huge burden on their already stretched finances. Across the sector, smaller schools are struggling to remain financially afloat, which was already a challenge even before the imposition of VAT on fees, which was an ideological move against freedom of choice.
“Taxing the provision of education in this way is a breach of the right to education guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and the policy disproportionately affects certain groups, including military families, those with children with special educational needs (SEND), and individuals with specific religious or philosophical beliefs, like those in our school.
“This unjust legislation has already had a devastating impact on the independent school sector, causing many children to leave their schools and even many schools to close. Regardless of the outcome we will continue to provide in the best way possible for our children and support our families by appealing against this judgement.”
Consequences devastating
Ben Snowdon, Headteacher at Emmanuel School in Derby, an award-winning Independent Christian School which has been providing small group Christian education for over 30 years, said: “The consequences of this policy will be devastating for independent Christian schools and many other low-cost independent schools across the country. It is especially concerning to parents who are not from affluent backgrounds and who have children with special education needs.
“At Emmanuel School we share the government’s desire to ensure that all children have access to high quality education, but we’re deeply concerned that the government’s VAT proposals will hinder this aim.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said about today’s judgment:
“What has become clear in recent years, is that the government is pursuing a monopoly over education and what our children will learn. Radical RSE was introduced, even effecting independent Christian schools and primary schools. Private faith schools have been targeted with unfair tax burdens. And home educating families and out-of-school religious educators are also being targeted by pending legislation.”
