A tiny picturesque private school hit by Labour’s VAT hike is set to close before Christmas unless £180,000 in emergency funding can be raised.
Hunter Hall, a prep school in rural Cumbria, is crowdfunding for the money ahead of its deadline of this coming Wednesday.
The school said Labour’s new VAT on school fees, which came into effect in January, has priced families out and caused them to withdraw their children.
The number of pupils aged three to eleven has fallen from 100 to 79 in the past year.
Paul Borrows, head teacher, told the Sunday Times: ‘The speed at which the tax changes came in did come as a shock to lots of people within the independent sector.
‘The way the Government approached it felt, at times, vindictive, like it was done in a way that would almost cause most damage. Knowing the damage it has done to children is quite hard to stomach.’
The school, where tuition costs up to £15,000 a year, employs 20 staff and is due to mark its 40th anniversary next year.
It is housed in 19th-century farm buildings on the outskirts of Penrith, surrounded by fields of sheep.
The crowdfunding website has so far raised £119,000 since it was set up a week ago.
Governors said the money was not a ‘sticking plaster’, but would instead secure the school’s long-term future.
Mr Borrows, 42, said that a lot of parents at the school were small business owners who were also being hit by rising national insurance bills, so had been ‘squeezed twice’.
He said: ‘With just under three days to go until our Wednesday deadline, the response from current families here in Cumbria, past pupils and new friends from around the UK has been astonishing.
‘In particular, we’ve all been moved by support from families whose children have experienced first-hand the trauma of a sudden school closure.
‘More so now than ever, it is evident to us that the UK educational landscape is enriched by a diversity of schools.
‘We are at risk of losing this thanks to Labour’s shortsighted, narrow-minded, ideological posturing.
‘As to our appeal, we are not there yet and this is a very real target and a very real deadline, so the pressure is still most definitely on.’
According to the Independent Schools Council (ISC), 57 mainstream private schools have closed since January, and 86 have shut since Labour won the election in July 2024.
Julie Robinson, chief executive at the ISC, said: ‘We are likely to see further closures over the coming months and years as the effects of VAT and other tax measures mount up.’
A Government spokesman said: ‘Ending tax breaks for private schools will raise £1.8 billion a year by 2029-30 to help deliver 6,500 new teachers and raise school standards, supporting the 94 per cent of children in state schools to achieve and thrive.’
