A mum on £12k a year says she won’t be able to afford private school – 17 attempts to make it all add up
The Telegraph has done it again! The paper has found a case study for its Money pages that nobody feels any sympathy for. Happy new year to us all!
In the column, a single mother named Monica, from Aberdeen, who says she earns around £12,000 a year, talks about how Labour’s tax plan will make it very difficult for her to keep paying for private primary school for her son.
Private schools are only for the wealthy & ‘elite’?
Try telling that to Monica, a single mother earning £12,500 p.a., and the thousands like her.
“This tax won’t target the wealthy, it’s going after hard-working families and single mothers.”https://t.co/sKjptnJ0U4
— Olly Metcalfe (@OllyMetcalfe) January 1, 2025
Monica talks about how her son’s fees are £3,360 per year (reduced from £5,600 due to a bursary), but that with Labour’s new education tax, the fees will go up to over £4,000 from this month.
No doubt she just wants the best for her son, but Monica’s plight hasn’t won her much support online, with people especially trying to work out how the sums involved actually work out…
1.
This story makes absolutely no sense. How is someone earning just £12,500 sending their child to a private school in the first place? https://t.co/tbogrwq9gB
— Otto English (@Otto_English) January 1, 2025
2.
This woman claims £8,400 from the Government in Universal Credit, £1,800 in Bursary contributions.
But she doesn't want to pay £800 a year in Private School VAT to pay for these things. pic.twitter.com/6wMNx0I45j
— BladeoftheSun (@BladeoftheS) January 2, 2025
3.
Fascinated by this woman’s maths and life choices – she sent her son to private school because her daughter felt peer pressured by not having the latest trainers at a state school. Righto. https://t.co/dribKIyYZR
— Hannah Rich (@hannahmerich) January 2, 2025
4.
https://t.co/RE64SsWOsF pic.twitter.com/RNu9GRnRaX
— J u l i u s (@Julius2784) January 2, 2025
5.
Her reason for sending her kid to private school is that her other kid felt out of place among the rich kids at a state school. Going to an expensive fee paying school to avoid rich kids makes complete sense actually. https://t.co/rOr4SbgF7n pic.twitter.com/4mkfmzQ4Q5
— Beth (@bethchevron) January 2, 2025
6.
So she works part time, presumably because she gets more in benefits by doing so, uses those benefits to send her kid to private school and we’re supposed to feel sorry for her because she now has to pay more? Have I got that right?
— Alex Jones (@dr_besty) January 1, 2025
7.
Wealthy families paid their school fees years in advance last year, many paid years in advance, so the tax will not affect them at all.
— It’s going to be ok (@LongHorizonView) January 2, 2025
8.
No one said “only”, they said “mostly”.
“Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) in 2022 said 75% of children at private school came from families in the wealthiest 30% of households, with most of those coming from the richest 10% of households”https://t.co/A9hAMu2owB.— Dave R (@daveRessex) January 1, 2025
9.
Imagine if this tax rise hadn’t happened. The Telegraph would have been absolutely apoplectic that someone was spending their universal credit to send their child to private school.
— Colin the Dachshund (@DachshundColin) January 1, 2025
10.
Right, so her kid got bullied for being “poor” so Mummy here, decided to go the front of the news to say how poor she is, while her children go to a private school? Which you know, private schools, famously known for not bullying.
— Lolsys Library (@LolsysL) January 2, 2025
11.
Salary of £12.5k, fees of £3600 when you include the bursary. That means she’s covering rent/mortgage, food and bills (including travel) on £700 a month.
Something doesn’t add up here. What is this article not telling us?
— CölümbîãByOåsïß (@BlunderbussHB) January 2, 2025
12.
And if you believe that story I’ve a bridge to sell you. She works part time. Her earnings made up with income support amount to £12,500. School fee’s £3,360. Rent £8640. There’s her income spent before she adds energy costs, council tax and food. She still manages to run a car.
— Alex MacLeod (@AlexMacLeod9) January 1, 2025
13.
There’s no justification for a private service provider to receive tax breaks, unless meet charitable status. It’s parental choice. No-one whose total income amounted to £12.5k could possibly afford to fund independent school fees alone. https://t.co/QkjhRNLlGd
— Jerome (@jezobrien) January 1, 2025
14.
Food: £400
Utilities: £300
Private School: 12k a term
Clothes: £250can someone pls help me budget, my child needs private school https://t.co/YmjwFiPVSI
— HERO COMPLEX OUT MONDAY (@paddylopes) January 2, 2025
15.
The private school lads genuinely do not believe the rest of us can do simple maths https://t.co/FX86LgKxWL
— Tom Hatfield (@WordMercenary) January 2, 2025
16.
“Private schools are only for the wealthy & ‘elite’?”
Average Private School Fees, per pupil : £18,000.
So, if you can afford that, then ‘wealthy’ is not only implied but proven.
— John O’Connell (@jdpoc) January 2, 2025
17.
taking this article at face value, nobody should be receiving a handout from the state to send their child to a private school, no matter how “affordable” the fees! pic.twitter.com/uODZtaVKHU
— Alex Otway (@alxotw) January 2, 2025
Break out the tiny violins.
I was similarly discriminated against by having to pay VAT on a new Porsche when I only earned £15k a year. In the end I had to make the difficult decision to buy a car I could actually afford instead.
— Mason Cross (@MasonCrossBooks) January 2, 2025
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Source Twitter/X/ollymetcalfe
Image BladeoftheS, Freepik