Christian schools and families to challenge Government’s VAT on education at Court of Appeal
19 January 2026 Issued by: Christian Legal CentreA coalition of Christian schools, parents and pupils will gather at the Royal Courts of Justice on 20 and 21 January as the Court of Appeal hears a landmark challenge to the UK Government’s controversial decision to impose 20% VAT on private school fees.
The tax, introduced through the Finance Act 2025, has already forced school closures and displaced vulnerable children across the independent school sector.
The appeal is being brought by headteachers and families from independent Christian schools across the UK, including Emmanuel School in Derby, The Branch Christian School in Yorkshire, The King’s School in Hampshire, and Wyclif Independent Christian School in South Wales.
Supported by lawyers from the Christian Legal Centre, the appeal follows Lord Justice Lewis’s decision to grant permission on all eight grounds in October 2025, recognising that the case raises issues of compelling public importance.
The policy, which took effect on 1 January 2025, has disproportionately impacted low‑cost Christian schools serving deprived communities, SEND pupils, and families seeking education aligned with their faith.
The UK stands alone as the only country in Europe that taxes education in this matter. In the High Court it was said that it was comparable to taxing people for attending a church service.
It is understood that over 100 independent schools have closed and 17,000 pupils have left independent schools since the measure was imposed.
‘This policy could destroy everything we’ve built for our children’
For Yvonne Owusu‑Ansah, a mother of three children at The King’s School in Fair Oak, the imposition of VAT threatens to upend her family’s life. Having moved home and sacrificed financially to secure a Christian education, she now faces being forced to withdraw her children.
“VAT will make it impossible for me to keep my children in their school”, she said. “I’ve worked, sacrificed, moved home and shaped our whole lives around giving them a Christian education that reflects our values.
If this policy goes ahead, I will be forced to home‑educate. My children will lose the teachers, friends and environment where they are thriving academically and spiritually. This will place immense strain on our family. It is a burden no parent should be forced to bear.”
The High Court previously acknowledged that the VAT policy would disproportionately affect families in the lower half of the income distribution and could immediately displace around 3,000 pupils.
Christian schools, many in deprived areas, teach children with SEND needs, complex pastoral backgrounds, and diverse communities, often at fees well below the per‑pupil cost to the state. Even slight fee increases can destabilise these schools. Some have already closed; others are on the brink.
Parents already being priced out
Stephen White, a father from Bradford who has structured his family’s entire life around accessing an affordable Christian education, warns that this tax misrepresents and punishes families like his.
“This policy forces families like mine into an impossible choice. We live simply so we can send our children to a school shaped by our faith.
Labour has created a caricature of wealthy private schools, that’s not our reality. We are ordinary, hardworking families and this tax threatens to take away our children’s education overnight.”
Headteachers warn of an existential threat
Schools report that VAT is already pushing parents into crisis, with children being withdrawn midway through school terms and GCSE courses.
Jill Holt, Headteacher of The Branch Christian School, said:
“Most of our parents work full-time and cannot home‑school. They choose our school because it reflects their values. VAT would add nearly £800 to fees, a burden many families simply cannot bear.
The government’s argument simply doesn’t add up. It would cost the state more to educate these children if our schools collapse.”
Caroline Santer, Headteacher at The King’s School, said:
“Christian schools like ours exist to serve families who want an education rooted in faith and values, often at great personal sacrifice. The VAT policy is already forcing parents into heart-breaking decisions and putting schools on the brink of closure. If this continues, it will dismantle decades of work in building Christian education that meets the needs of children academically and spiritually. We are standing together because the right to choose an education aligned with your convictions must be protected.”
‘Ideological overreach’
Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre whose lawyers are supporting the case, said:
“This is another example of ideological overreach by this Labour government. Education is not the sole responsibility of the state, nor should the state interfere in the rightful role of families. By imposing a direct tax on education, something no UK or Western government has ever done, the government is deliberately narrowing parental choice and forcing families into decisions they would not otherwise make.
This policy is ideological, damaging, and entirely counterproductive. It is closing long-standing charitable Christian schools while failing to raise meaningful revenue.
This case is about more than tax. It is about whether the state should be allowed to crowd out family responsibility and conscience, creating conditions in which parents effectively have no choice but to submit to a single, state-approved model of education. It is about the fundamental freedom of parents to educate their children in accordance with their faith and deeply held beliefs.”
Legal grounds: A direct interference with fundamental rights
At the core of the appeal is the argument that imposing VAT on private Christian education constitutes a profound breach of rights protected under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Lawyers are expected to argue that the measure violates Article 2 of Protocol 1 (A2P1), the right to education, because it directly obstructs parents’ ability to secure the only form of schooling that aligns with their religious convictions. For many families, Christian education is not merely preferable but essential, and cannot be reproduced in the state sector.
By imposing VAT, the Government has made it foreseeable that children will be withdrawn or that schools may be forced to close.
The appeal further argues that the VAT policy breaches Article 1 of Protocol 1 (A1P1), which protects peaceful enjoyment of possessions.
For parents, the tax imposes an excessive and discriminatory financial burden on those who do not use state education.
For schools, charitable institutions operating on minimal margins, the sudden imposition of VAT threatens their economic viability. Evidence before the Court shows that for many low‑fee Christian schools, the tax risks making their continued operation impossible, thereby interfering with their property‑like business interests.
Lawyers will argue that the VAT regime is discriminatory under Article 14, because it targets private Christian schools while exempting state‑funded independent schools such as academies and free schools.
Finally, the appeal emphasises that the UK has disregarded its broader obligations under international human rights law. Treaties such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in Education require states to support parental freedom in choosing education aligned with their religious and moral convictions and to foster educational pluralism.
The VAT measure does the opposite by restricting access to distinctive educational settings, undermining parental choice, and accelerating school closures. Once the UK has established a system that allows parental access to private faith education, the state is not permitted to dismantle or diminish it through targeted fiscal measures.
Lawyers will submit that the VAT policy is not a neutral tax measure but a targeted attack on the rights of children, parents and schools, and a sharp departure from the UK’s longstanding commitment to educational freedom.
