The headteachers of small independent schools that cater for children with complex additional support needs are warning that their very existence will be under threat if Scotland’s private schools are forced to pay business rates in full.

In Scotland there are around 20 small private schools for children with complex additional support needs who fail to thrive in the state sector. Most of these schools are charities and they fear that pupils’ wellbeing may now suffer because of a landmark change on rates.

Many of these pupils have been out of education for months - if not years - by the time councils decide to fund a place, according to the leaders of two Perthshire schools. Ochil Tower School and the New School fear that any rise in business rates would mean a rise in fees, placing at risk their future and those of the children they work with.

The schools’ comments come after last week’s publication of the Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates by former RBS chairman Ken Barclay, which suggested that independent schools should pay business rates in full because state schools were subject to the charges and it was “unfair” that, as charities, independent schools benefitted from “reduced or zero-rates bills”. It estimated that removing the rate relief could save £5 million.

‘Vindictive and counterproductive’

However, independent schools immediately hit out, saying that this would put them at a “global disadvantage”. One head described the move as “vindictive and utterly counterproductive”. The two Perthshire schools for children with complex needs believe that those backing the introduction of the charges - a move which appears to have widespread public support - are failing to take into account schools like theirs.

Neil Snellgrove, head of education at Ochil Tower, said it was under immense pressure “just to exist” due to council budget cuts, and if it was forced to close then parents would be left in crisis, families would be at risk of breakdown and pupils would not have their needs met. He added: “Any additional costs will have to be met. The most likely scenario is it becomes more and more difficult to get children into a facility like ours because it costs more.”

Chris Holmes, head of the New School, said: “As local authority budgets have been squeezed, children who require our kind of approach have been put to the back of the queue because it’s more expensive. Anything that increases the fees is going to push local government closer to withdrawing the child from a placement, and for the child that means they probably won’t get an education.”

Derek Mackay, the Scottish finance secretary, welcomed the Barclay report. He said that the review group had spent more than a year engaging closely with ratepayers and that the government would “respond swiftly to its recommendations”.

This is an edited version of an article in the 1 September edition of Tes Scotland. Subscribers can read the full story here. To subscribe, click here. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here. Tes Scotland magazine is available at all good newsagents.

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