Retired modern languages teacher, Keith Welling, 79, and his wife, Elisabeth, pay 100 per cent of their 14-year-old granddaughter Thea’s school fees, at a cost of £7,000 a term.
Their other granddaughter Poppy, who is Thea’s sister, is also at private school, paid for by Keith’s son, a logistics consultant, and daughter-in-law, a music teacher.
But they say the introduction of VAT on private school fees in January 2025 means that Poppy’s parents can now no longer afford the £6,500-a-term fees.
They are faced with potentially having to withdraw her from her Solihull school at the end of Year 5, but Keith and Elisabeth are keen to help the family support their bills for Thea and have committed to doing so up until she finishes her GCSEs.
“VAT has pushed [the fees] over what my son and his wife can afford. They went to see the bursar and Poppy, who is 10, should be safe for one more term. If the family can’t find the money for next year, she will have to move schools twice,” says Keith.
“She will have to find another school for Year 6 followed by another move in July 2027. How disruptive will that be for her?”
Speaking about their funding of Thea’s fees, Keith said: “We are only able to do this thanks to a legacy left to my wife by her mother years ago. We would not have been able to do this otherwise.”As a former teacher at a grammar school-turned-comprehensive, Keith feels very strongly about the issue of VAT.
“I’ve read about parents who have had to move their children out in Year 10, which is very bad from an educational point of view,” he says, pointing to the fact this is halfway through a student’s GCSEs.
Both girls have been at fee-paying schools since Reception and, initially, the Wellings paid half towards each of them.
When she started school, Thea’s school fees were £3,000 a term and the couple contributed £1,500.
“We switched to paying all of Thea’s fees, a couple of years ago because they were higher than Poppy’s. We said we’d look after Thea if you look after Poppy,” says Keith.
“Thea gets a small sports scholarship of 10 per cent and we have committed to supporting her till she has done her GCSEs.”
The plan is for Thea to then attend the local state sixth-form college when she turns 17.
The Wellings used a combination of state and private schools for their own two children, sacrificing on luxuries to pay for school fees and choosing self-catering holidays in Wales over jetting off aboard.
Keith says that fortunately, he and Elisabeth no longer need foreign holidays at their age, and that was from where cuts would have come had they been needed to pay Thea’s fees.
Keith said: “We felt that, if we could get something better if we paid for it, we would sacrifice to do this. If you are happy with state schools, stick with it. Our children only did five years of private school because we were happy with the provision at primary and sixth-form level.”
The couple are unique among their friends in supporting their grandchildren in this way but have absolutely no regrets.
“There are opportunities for Poppy in music and Thea in sport and they are backed up by the schools. They wouldn’t have these in the state system. Poppy is in her school choir and sang in Coventry Cathedral a few weeks ago,” says Keith, who also disputes the idea that only the wealthy can afford a private school education.
“So many at private schools are middle-class families, and they are the ones complaining because [the introduction of VAT] doesn’t affect the wealthy,” he says.
He adds: “Many middle-income parents are sacrificing a lot to send their children to private schools, even downsizing and they are paying twice as they also pay for a state school place [through their taxes].”
He says, unfortunately, he does not have funds to support Poppy’s fees if her place at her school becomes less certain.
“Whether any help from within the wider family could be forthcoming remains to be seen”, he adds.
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