Sacrificers
Dominic Norrish's article on parents at the margin of affordability in private education
Here’s a cracking article from Dominic Norrish of the Independent Association of Prep Schools. He looks at the (best case) departure of 40,000 children from independent schools. I agree every word.
Labour's policy will cause silent suffering for 40,000 (schoolsweek.co.uk)
He concentrates on “sacrificers”, those hard-working families who are on the margins of independent school affordability. He rightly cites the human cost to those families, and their children, if VAT suddenly makes them change their plans.
He also highlights the probability that some schools will close. “This could be the trigger in a wider collapse, accelerated by TPS contribution hikes and state-sector pay rises. Those with the fewest pupils, on the more accessible end of the price range, the kind of school loved by their community but woefully underequipped to ride out this maelstrom, will close.”
Since he’s focussed on the human angle, not the fiscal impact, he doesn’t go on to discuss the effect on parents’ labour supply, which is this blog’s original contribution to the debate. If those “sacrificer” parents no longer spend their money on independent education, will they now spend that money on holidays, cars and houses? Or is there, as I believe, a risk (from the fiscal perspective) that instead they decide not to earn it in the first place? Maybe one or both parents quits or reduces work because
They need to provide wrap-around childcare that their state school can’t provide
They want to provide greater parental support (academic, social, emotional, sporting or cultural) for whatever needs they currently perceive the state sector doesn’t fulfil
They are just fed-up with their time-poor lifestyle; instead of now becoming cash-rich, they choose to be time-rich. They fancy (like many comfortably-off state school parents) more leisure, to spend on gardening, chess, study, daytime TV or just getting on top of the chores which (if it’s anything like my full-time dual-income household) are a source of severe pain.
It doesn’t take many higher earners quitting before the loss to the taxman (income tax and NICs) reaches billions, and that’s before considering the loss of their labour value-added to customers, employees and customers and the (taxable) downstream economy. It would be unwise for any government to take for granted the work these people do, they value they create, or the tax they pay.
Norrish’s article is spot-on. These people’s life is hard. It’s a different “hard” to being a single mum in a high-rise, but it’s hard. These people “pull the cart of society” and they deserve due consideration.