VAT row Call to exempt international schools in UK

Imposing VAT on international schools in the UK could lead to hundreds of pupils leaving, European diplomats have said, as they called for the institutions to retain the exemption from the 20% duty that private schools are expected to lose.

- Kevin Rawlinson

The German and French ambassadors to the UK, Miguel Berger and Helene Duchene, said international schools were distinct from British private schools because the option of transferring to the British state sector was not always realistic for their pupils.

"For expats coming here for two, three or four years wanting their children to go back to the national system, their only option is to go to these schools," Berger said.