A mother whose son has ADHD explains how the upcoming VAT increase on private school fees will force her to homeschool him due to financial constraints.
We'll be charged an extra £1,000 a term from January, but our son has educational needs, and would be completely lost at state school
He was too anxious to speak to adults, even his grandparents. He would wet himself in class regularly because he was too scared to ask the teacher if he could go to the toilet. It became a real problem, and I was being called into school to come to pick him up because they wouldn’t change a six-year-old who soiled themselves.
My son was not getting any help and we were going back and forth. In desperation, after a particularly frustrating parents’ evening, I phoned the local independent school. He went to a taster session two days later. It was a tiny little school, and he was in a class of eight. He loved it. We arranged for him to move the following Monday. The fees are £5,200 a term.
However, on the NHS the waiting time for a full assessment and diagnosis is four years. For a private assessment, I would have to pay £3,000. When Labour announced their policy of a school fee hike at the start of the year, I thought it would be be introduced next September, not within a few months. I thought I would be able to get him through Year 8, and then we could take stock and make some decisions.
Private Schools Education Costs VAT Increase Homeschooling Special Educational Needs
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