Private schools chief warns of 'property confiscation'

The threat to private schools’ charitable status was likened yesterday to Henry VIII’s act in dissolving the monasteries in 1539 by a leading headmaster today.

It was, argued Andrew Grant, chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference that represents 250 of the country’s most elite private schools, an attempt to confiscate land and property in a “medieval” fashion.

Mr Grant, who is headmaster of St Albans school in Hertfordshire, based his argument on the fact that many private schools’ buildings and land are part of their charitable status – and could be forfeit if they lost it.

“Let’s be clear,” he said, addressing the HMC conference in Liverpool, “the threat that currently underlies the Charity Commission’s guidance (on what schools have to do to retain their charitable status) is the well-tried medieval one of confiscation of land and property and it looks no less crude and ugly under the rose of Labour than it did under the rose of Tudor.”

Losing charitable status was not an option for schools, he added. “It’s not: ‘If you wish to remain charities, you must do such and such’, it’s ‘If you wish to continue to exist, you must remain charities and you must meet our test according to the interpretation of the law’. An assault on our charitable status is therefore an assault on our independence.”

Mr Grant was setting the scene for what is expected to be a confrontation tomorrow when Suzi Leather, who chairs the Charity Commission, has taken up an invitation to address the conference.

She is expected to mount a vigorous defence of the new charities legislation which insists anyone claiming charitable status must prove they provide “public benefit” and do not exclude sections of society on grounds of poverty, saying the public wants fairness from charities. The Commission has already warned two private prep schools they face the loss of their status on the grounds of not subsidising enough places for the needy.

Meanwhile, the results of a poll conducted by the University and College Union, published today, shows the majority of the public (56 per cent) believe private schools should lose their charitable status with the money saved going to provide education for the needy – 41 per cent of Conservative voters wanted it abolished.

The union, which represents university lecturers, seized on the fact that the private schools get an estimated £100 million a year tax break as a result of their charitable status.

“I was astounded to discover the £100 million tax break,” said Sally Hunt, its general secretary, “while the country was supposedly unable to find funds to pay for university places for thousands of students.

“The poll says that people across the political spectrum agree with me that – in a time of recession – every penny of taxpayers’ money spent on children’s education should be for the benefit of the many not the few.”

However, warming to his theme yesterday, Mr Grant went on to say politicians should be grateful for the saving the education private schools provide offers to the public purse – “especially when that purse is as empty as it is now”.

He said the Government would lose £135 million a year in VAT income if private schools closed and it would also cost £3 billion extra to provide places in the state sector to educate all their children.

“What hypocrisy we have heard from some moralising, mealy-mouthed politicians over charitable status,” he said. “How dare you criticise our parents for footing the bill to educate their own children or seek to make it more difficult for them to do so?”

However, this argument has been dismissed by one employer who suggested businesses similarly could claim charitable status for providing employment by employing people who would otherwise be a drain on the state’s resources by being on the dole.

In his speech, Mr Grant was also critical of the Conservatives’ plans to follow the Swedish education system – and fund parents’ groups, charities and private companies that want to set up schools.

“I really don’t believe there are gangs of dissatisfied parents roaming the country looking for opportunities to set up new charitable foundations with all the attendant effort, additional star-up costs and, most importantly, lead-in time – which would mean their children would be past school age long before the schools were functioning effectively,” he added.