Many of the country's most prestigious private schools are being hit hard with cost cutting measures seeing pay, pensions and jobs being axed, a new poll has revealed.
Hair transplant prices could be set to soar after the taxman won a legal battle against a clinic that argued the procedure should be exempt from VAT due to it being a medical procedure.
The National Education Union (NEU) polled 4,000 teachers in independent schools in England and Wales about the policy, which came into effect from January.
Treasury Minister Torsten Bell put a figure on the effect of the tax hike for the first time. A dozen schools have already shut, or intend to close, since January, blaming the levy.
Dr Rupa Huq (pictured), the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, said putting 20 per cent VAT on independent school fees was punishing 'working people'.
St Hilda's Prep School for Girls said it was 'consulting' on a potential closure this summer following the government's bombshell plans to introduce a 20 per cent VAT rate on fees.