VAT on School Fees - Supreme Court Case

Aim

Help fund the Supreme Court challenge against VAT on school fees. We only have until 22 Sept to do the research and prepare our evidence.

WE ONLY HAVE UNTIL THE END OF AUGUST THIS YEAR TO GATHER OUR EVIDENCE

WHY are we doing this?  Because:

Thousands of children have been forced out of the schools they know and love, leaving friends, trusted teachers and settled environments.

Children's education has been cruelly interrupted mid-term, mid-year and mid-childhood.

More than 90 schools have closed as the impact of new fiscal policies continue to reshape the independent sector.  (More closures are likely to follow in the coming months and years).

Hundreds of teachers and staff have lost their jobs.

Local communities have lost valued schools and employers.

Families who had planned to choose independent schooling no longer have that choice.

Families are being affected financially, emotionally and practically.

These are the consequences of a series of unprecedented and cumulative fiscal policy shocks, imposed over a very short period of time that have placed independent schools and the families who choose them under significant pressure.

The introduction of VAT on school fees, the targeted removal of charitable business rates relief (ONLY from independent schools; NO OTHER TYPE OF CHARITY), increases in employers national insurance and other rising costs facing us all, have already forced many difficult decisions for parents and school and will continue to create more disruption and distress.

Dozens of schools have closed; more are at risk.

Tens of thousands of children have been forced to leave their schools.  Families have been displaced and children's education has been disrupted.

The already-stretched state school sector is being put under more strain as children have no choice but to move into state education. Many state schools and colleges are over-subscribed and some children have no school places.

What began as a debate about tax policy is now a debate about children, educational continuity, parental choice and the future of a diverse education system.

On December 1st 2026 the Supreme Court will examine whether VAT on school fees was lawful.

WHY THIS IS URGENT

THE CLOCK IS NOW TICKING

The Supreme Court has confirmed the hearing date: 1 December 2026.

For the Association for Families of Independent Schooling (AFIS), the most important date comes earlier.

Evidence and submissions must be prepared and lodged by 22 September 2026.

That gives us only a short window to:

• gather family testimony
• complete our national Family Voice survey
• analyse evidence
• prepare legal submissions
• ensure the experiences of children and families are properly presented to the court

The opportunity is real.

And so is the deadline.

Help fund a national survey whose findings could inform evidence submitted to the Supreme Court

Why donate today?

Because the evidence deadline is 22 September.

Every week lost now is a week lost gathering evidence, analysing data and preparing submissions.

The earlier we can fund this work, the stronger the evidence we can place before the court.

The Association for Families of Independent Schooling (AFIS) will play an important role in the Supreme Court Appeal.

For the past 18 months, AFIS has been built through thousands of hours of volunteer effort, donations from our members and significant personal financial investment by the families behind it.

Now we need your help to take the next step.

We are raising £400,000 to fund:

• AFIS's Supreme Court intervention and evidence preparation

• The national Family Voice survey to gather essential data about who independent school families really are and why they choose independent education

• Research and analysis relating to the impact of VAT and other policy changes

• Media, policy and public engagement

• Family support and representation work over the next 12 months (more research, representation and support for independent-schooling families, correcting the negative, misleading and ill-informed narratives that created the conditions that led to unjust policies including VAT on school fees).

Please donate today.

4th June 2026: The highest court in the land has granted permission for a group of independent faith schools, parents and pupils to appeal the Government's decision to impose VAT on independent school fees.  AFIS (the Association for Families of Independent Schooling) is proud to have played a part in the petition to appeal and will now join the case, presenting new evidence.

The Supreme Court will consider whether the VAT policy strikes a fair balance between the Government's objectives and the real-world consequences for children, families and schools.

The Supreme Court has opened the door.

Now we need to make sure families are heard and the interests of our children are properly considered. 

AFIS has been invited to contribute new evidence, research and family testimony to the next stage of the Supreme Court proceedings.

But we need your support to do it.

This is about children, families and educational continuity — not simply tax policy

Independent-schooling families are not a monolith.

We are not all wealthy. We are not all privileged. We are not all the same.

We are parents who made long-term decisions about our children's education, often through considerable personal sacrifice.

Many of us stretched our finances to the limit. Many relied on support from grandparents, means-tested fee assistance and scholarships. Some of us have children with additional needs. Some chose independent schooling after local state options failed to meet our children’s needs.

Most of us had no easy alternative when fees were increased and VAT was added.

We had no meaningful transitional protection.

And until AFIS, we had no national, unified voice.

Too often, independent-schooling families have been reduced to assumptions and stereotypes rather than understood as real families making deeply personal decisions about our children's education.

AFIS was founded to change that.

Children do not choose their schools, but they live with the consequences when decisions about schooling are made.

Why this opportunity matters right now

A determined group of small independent faith schools, parents and pupils pursued this case through the courts when others stepped back after the High Court case was lost in June 2025. Their perseverance has created a renewed opportunity to examine what this policy has actually done to children, families and communities.

AFIS has spent the past six months gathering evidence, documenting family experiences, and testing assumptions that have shaped public debate about independent school.  We have been developing new analysis that has not previously been part of the legal argument.

We have now been invited to contribute to the substantive intervention stage of the Supreme Court proceedings.

This is a rare, time-limited opportunity.

We cannot do it without you.

This fundraising campaign is about more than one court case.

The Supreme Court appeal matters enormously.

But AFIS was not created for one legal challenge alone.  We were never just about VAT on school fees.  We were created because of the conditions that allowed for VAT and the other fiscal policy changes imposed on independent schooling to gain widespread public support BEFORE 2025.

Until AFIS was founded, independent-schooling families had no national organisation dedicated to understanding, representing and advocating for them on a range of issues.

There was no dedicated family voice.

No national research programme.

No organisation focused solely on gathering evidence about who these families are, why they choose the schools they do, and how policy decisions affect their children.

Your support will help us contribute to the Supreme Court appeal.

But it will also help build something longer-lasting: the evidence, research and representation infrastructure independent-schooling families have never had.

That work will be needed long after this case concludes.

We are not asking for special treatment.

We are asking for fair representation, better evidence and a more balanced understanding of the families who make up our community.

What AFIS has already achieved

Why donate now?

• The Supreme Court proceedings are moving forward and evidence is being prepared now

• Children and families continue to experience disruption as schools close, merge or face increasing financial pressure

• Important assumptions about independent-schooling families are still shaping public debate despite limited evidence

• AFIS is building the first national evidence base dedicated to understanding independent-schooling families

• Everything AFIS has achieved so far has been delivered through volunteer effort and personal investment

• This is a rare opportunity to ensure family voices are heard at the highest level while helping build a lasting organisation for the future

• Help fund AFIS's contribution to the Supreme Court proceedings, including legal, research and evidence preparation costs

We have built the foundations. With your support, we can build something far more substantial: a lasting organisation dedicated to understanding, representing and supporting independent-schooling families.

How your donation helps

We are raising £400,000 to support AFIS's contribution to the Supreme Court challenge and fund the next 12 months of research, representation and family support.

Your donation will help AFIS:

• Gather, analyse and present evidence

• Support legal, research and policy work connected to the Supreme Court appeal

• Publish AFIS's first major White Paper

• Launch and expand the AFIS Family Voice Survey that will explore the demographic profiles of independent schooling families and the motivations behind their school choices

• Continue engagement with policymakers, journalists and researchers

• Provide practical support and guidance for families facing affordability pressures, school transitions and policy change

• Build a stronger national voice for independent-schooling families

• Continue to campaign to end the two-tier treatment that disadvantages our children, excluding them from opportunities and services, just because of the “private school label”

Whether you give £10 or £10,000, your support helps ensure families’ voices are heard and robust data and evidence is presented, when major decisions affecting children's education are being made.

Major donors and match funding

We are actively seeking philanthropic supporters, trusts, foundations and major donors willing to support AFIS's public-interest work.

We are actively seeking match-funding partners willing to match public donations pound for pound.

Match funding can dramatically increase the value of every contribution and help us reach our fundraising target more quickly.

If you are interested in discussing a significant gift, a match-funding partnership or strategic support for AFIS's research, representation and family voice work, we would be delighted to speak with you confidentially.

Please contact us directly.

Together, we can ensure independent-schooling families are fairly represented in one of the most significant education policy debates of our generation.

 What people are saying about AFIS

ABOUT AFIS

The Association for Families of Independent Schooling (AFIS) is a non-profit Community Interest Company established to serve and support independent-schooling families across the UK.  

AFIS was founded by a mother of two is and run by a small, dedicated team of volunteer parents,

Following 12 months of research and planning AFIS launched in December 2025.

AFIS is the only national organisation dedicated  to understanding, representing and advocating for these families.

We are not a political campaign organisation.

We are a family voice, research and public-interest organisation dedicated to ensuring independent-schooling families are fairly represented in public debate and policymaking.

We are parent-led, evidence-led and focused on children and families.

All funds raised are reinvested into our community-benefit mission.

AFIS exists because many families felt unheard, misunderstood and misrepresented during the VAT debate and wider public discussion about independent schooling.

We are challenging assumptions, stereotypes and misconceptions about independent-schooling families and the extraordinary diversity of schools and families across the sector.

We are gathering essential data, evidence and lived experience that have too often been missing from public debate and policymaking.

Please donate today.

The Supreme Court has opened the door.

Help us make sure families are on the other side of it.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 6th July 2026 at 12:26am