School fees as allowable expenses?

CG77

Hi all,

Not for me (our little one's still only 2!!), but a question on behalf of a friend. Can private school fees be included as allowable expenses in BR? She's worried she may have to take her daughter out of the school she's currently in if she goes BR.

Can anyone shed any light on this as I wasn't sure how it would work?

Thanks,

CG. x

s1lvercloud

maybe they should allow everyhing as allowable expense, including private jets etc,

do they ever ask, whether her daugther should be in private school, what is wrong with normal schools anyway? oh is it non availability of all-weather lax pitches

skylight

They are not normally allowable unless the child is in GCSE or A level year, where its detrimental to withdraw them at that stage or other valid reason. Its the other valid reason thats frankly not really a possibility as state schools are AOK. Unless, the lady in question is titled, related to the queen or has a gifted child - I guess you could argue reasons why they should be in private school then!

sarahbr_2

Hi, am also interested in this, as my friend has one child (out of 2) in a private school paid for by a relative as the child was not able to manage in a bigger/busier school amongst many other reasons. They are now in financial difficulty and pushed toward bankruptcy but the fee's are not part of their income/outgoing. so while answering this, if anyone has any advice would be interested to pass on.

skylight

Sarahbr, if your friend is not paying for the fees in anyway then it does not matter one iota if she goes BR. It would only affect her if she was paying herself. Although its not just fees, its all associated costs that go with it - uniform, trips, materials etc and these may not all be covered by the OR in her SOA as they are likely to be large. Unless the relative is helping to cover those too!

CG77

Seeing as you asked (or rather didn't!!), the child in question DOES have extra needs, which I won't go into on here as it's not my child to discuss, but which mean the child needs a small class and extra help. She has tried, without success, to get funding for one-to-one help in state school and there are no smaller, suitable schools in the area.

I do have to say I feel the sarcastic 'private jet' type comments were rather excessive and unnecessary.

CG. x

sarahbr_2

Hi

I also felt the first comment about jets a bit thoughtless, so thanks to skylight for your serious answer, I really appreciate all the help that is available here. x

skylight

CG77 wrote: »

the child in question DOES have extra needs,

Then its always worth an argument. The worst the OR can say is no but gather as much information together as possible about the child and her (?) needs, with evidence from the school if necessary, doctors, any other helpers etc. But your friend needs to accept that as she is paying for the fees, then its likely to be a no.

skylight

And its really odd. Cos I had to take my kids out of Eton prep as the OR wouldn't permit me to keep the chauffeur - this meant I had to take them myself but I decided the little darlings could walk to the local pit instead. But he allowed me to keep the Hawker 750 so the family and I could pop to Paris at the weekend. I think it was due to a spot of bribery and I allow my OR to use it occasionally too........

CG77

Thanks, Skylight. I'll pass that on to her. There is lots of evidence of the child's needs, so she may have a case.

I was disappointed by the comments above too, and surprised anyone feels they were 'useful', but then I guess that's the risk you take posting on an open forum. It's sad though that comments like this will make me (at best) wary of posting again, especially as I've been given some great advice over the past few months.

CG. x

skylight

Don't fret about it. Fortunately, we do live in a free country so people are entitled to their own opinion - and allowed to go BR if circumstances dictate. What they fail to realise is that this is an owned forum, therefore free speech is not as free as they like. Martin has his own rules about "Being nice to ALL moneysavers" and as its his forum, he makes the rules.

You always get one or two that think they are above everyone else. They forget that some of the most vulnerable people on the forum and net read these threads, hoping for help. And I don't think that they realise that stupid comments can push someone over the edge.

Anyway. Off my high horse again! Don't let them get to you. They are faceless and are quite probably scared of their own money worries but cannot admit it. It therefore makes them feel better to belittle others or make snide comments to reinforce their superiority complex.