Single mother of autistic child launches High Court challenge to Labour’s private schools VAT raid, claiming it violates her daughter’s right to education _ Hieuuk
The single mother of an autistic child is launching a High Court challenge to Labour’s plan to charge VAT on private school fees on the basis it contravenes her daughter’s right to education.
Alexis Quinn said she represents thousands of parents who will be forced to transfer vulnerable children with special needs into unsuitable schools if the Government’s policy goes ahead.
She told how scores of parents like her will no longer be able to afford the fees of independent schools catering for their children’s needs as they are hiked to absorb the additional VAT.
Ms Quinn, who earns £1,900 per month as a charity worker, told the Mail on Sunday: ‘My biggest fear is that we will no longer be able to afford the fees and my daughter will no longer be able to go to a school that she’s thriving in.
‘Instead she will have to attend a school that she may suffer in.
The single mother of an autistic child is launching a High Court challenge to Labour’s plan to charge VAT on private school fees on the basis it contravenes her daughter’s right to education
‘I am hopeful that the Government will listen to my situation, which is representative of thousands of others.’
Ms Quinn also rejects Labour’s claims special needs children will be protected from fee rises by ‘EHCP’ certificates granted by local authorities, which can be used to obtain funding for private educational costs.
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She argued that parents often wait years to be given ‘Education, Health and Care Plans’ (EHCP) and many simply have their requests rejected by struggling councils.
Research by the Independent Schools Council has found that just 7,600 special needs pupils at private schools currently have an EHCP, while 103,000 do not.
Describing her own situation, Ms Quinn told how she first decided to place her daughter Addison -who has been diagnosed with autism and dyspraxia – in a private school after a torrid experience at a state primary school in Herne Bay, Kent.
The 40-year-old mother recalled: ‘The environment at school was overstimulating for her, she wasn’t performing with the curriculum and socially she was being bullied and victimised due to her differences.
‘She began having tummy aches and headaches and would cry on returning home and leaving for school.
‘She refused to eat and regressed in her ability to dress and manage self-care.
Alexis Quinn said she represents thousands of parents who will be forced to transfer vulnerable children with special needs into unsuitable schools if the Government’s policy goes ahead (file pic)
‘But at the time, fearing the fines that the Government were inflicting for non-attendance and the current Government are continuing to do so, I’m ashamed to say that I was forcing her into school.’
Ms Quinn said in response the primary school recommended she apply for an EHCP, leading her to commission a psychological report for her daughter that revealed she needed a smaller school environment and lower stimulus.
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However, when she applied to Kent Council for an EHCP they refused to assess her daughter for a certificate after concluding ‘appropriate provision’ for her needs was being provided by her primary school.
As a result, Ms Quinn says that she began looking at state secondary schools that her daughter might be able to move onto.
But she was advised by staff at her nearest option that the school of 2,000 pupils would not be a suitable environment for the child.
‘At that stage my parents and I decided that we had to club together and send her to an independent school and it’s the best decision we’ve made,’ Ms Quinn said.
They chose to send Addison, who is now 12, to Rochester Independent College some 50 minutes from the family’s home.
‘It describes itself as an alternative school, so it’s not a special school but lots of the children are on EHCPs and many are like Addison in that they’ve been failed and parents have taken matters into their own hands,’ Ms Quinn explained.
‘Addison is in a class of seven, it’s a homely environment and they don’t have to wear uniform so she hasn’t got all those sensory problems she had before.
‘She has absolutely has thrived at the school.’
But with Labour’s announcement that it will charge private schools 20 per cent VAT from January next year, Ms Quinn says she has been told by her daughter’s headteacher that the £16,800 per year fees she currently pays will rise.
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Responding to this prospect, she said: ‘I’m a single parent and both my parents are retired.
‘My dad is an Army veteran and was a prison officer and my mum is an ex-police officer. They are public servants – they’re not wealthy.
‘We’re just about able to afford the fees, so any increase would be disastrous.’
Ms Quinn this week instructed lawyers to send a pre-action letter to the Treasury and Department for Education informing them of her intention to bring a judicial review against the Government’s amendment of the VAT Act 1994.
The correspondence warns that the plan to remove the VAT exemption for private schools is ‘incompatible’ with the European Convention on Human Rights ‘because it results in discrimination in access to education’.
Speaking of her hopes for the legal action, Ms Quinn said: ‘Ultimately I’d like to see this legislation scrapped.’
