County Hall’s cabinet now finds itself at loggerheads with the Isle of Wight council’s watchdog over tax breaks for private schools.
The executive yesterday evening voted to go ahead with a recommendation to exclude fee-paying schools from Discretionary Rate Relief (DRR) – a tax relief local authorities can choose to grant businesses, charities and organisations.
Scrutiny Committee recommended the opposite
On Tuesday however, the Corporate Scrutiny Committee (CSC) recommended the opposite: that Island private schools should be allowed access to receive DRR.
The body urged the cabinet to “strongly reconsider” the policy’s application and warned of a “detrimental effect” on the Isle of Wight and “future regeneration”.
Stephens: 80 per cent relief seen as unfair
Deputy leader councillor Ian Stephens said,
“Currently many private schools benefit from charitable status which allows them to receive up to 80 per cent relief on their business rates.
“This relief is seen as unfair and it provides significant financial advantages to fee-paying schools, compared to our state schools which do not receive such extensive relief.”
Bacon: Stunned by what was coming out of Scrutiny
Education cabinet member Councillor Jonathan Bacon said,
“I was actually quite stunned by what was coming out of Scrutiny on Tuesday evening and particularly the fact there was no reference or comparison to the situation in state schools.
“Yes there are some who, for whatever reason have mandatory relief, but there are at least 20 who don’t and are paying these bills…if our interest is supporting the education system, surely we’d extend relief to all those rather than giving a privilege to the already privileged?”
Final vote
Full Council will cast a final vote on the policy at its 19th March meeting next week.
If approved, it will take effect from 1st April 2025.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
