AFIS Founder and CEO, Michelle Daniells, has written to the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to highlight the structural misalignment between admissions timelines and notice period requirements in the state school system. 

AFIS estimates that up to 15,000 children are affected by disruption arising from the Government’s 2025 policy changes. This places more pressures on the state sector and with more independent school closures at the end of this academic year announced, there will be additional cohorts of pupils seeking state school places for September 2026. 

Families are now caught between independent school notice period requirements, typically requiring a full term’s notice, with no confirmation of a state school place due to oversubscription and system misalignment. They must give notice to their current school without any guarantee of a suitable state school place, risking their child being left without provision, or retain their place and incur the cost of an additional term’s fees, often amounting to several thousand pounds. 

Given the significant pressures on household income due to the cost of living and tax rises, parents are placed in an untenable position. Families cannot afford to write off thousands of pounds by not giving notice. 

AFIS has previously written to Bridget Phillipson calling for transitional support to protect children from disruption and is now raising further concerns about the impact of admissions timings on families. 

In the letter Michelle makes the case for a change to the state school admissions processes to confirm places in line with notice periods, and a time-limited hardship fund to address unavoidable financial loss incurred by families as a direct result of the misalignment between policy implementation and admissions timelines. 


You can read a copy of the full letter to Bridget Phillipson here: 


30th March 2026 

The Right Honourable Bridget Phillipson MP 

Secretary of State for Education 

Department for Education 

Sanctuary Buildings 

Great Smith Street 

London 

SW1P 3BT 


Dear Secretary of State, 

I am writing further to my recent correspondence of 17 March 2026, to raise an additional urgent issue arising from the implementation of the Government’s 2025 policy introducing VAT on independent school fees and the removal of business rates relief from charitable schools. 

I am copying the Minister for Children and Families and the Minister for Schools, given the direct relevance of this issue to both children’s policy and school admissions, as well as my constituency MP. I have also copied Esther McVey MP, who has recently raised related concerns in Parliament, and the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, given the wider policy implications of this issue. 

Based on conservative modelling, AFIS estimates that up to 15,000 children are affected by disruption arising from these changes, with an average additional cost to families of approximately £2,500 per child, representing a first-year impact in the region of £35–40 million. As anticipated, by government and sector experts, these changes have resulted in a significant increase in families seeking to transfer their children from independent to state schools. 

This pressure on the state sector is already being compounded by the closure of independent schools. Recent data published by the Independent Schools Council indicates that 5,617 pupils were displaced due to school closures in 2025, the highest level recorded in the past decade. A number of independent schools have already announced closure affecting the end of the current academic year, meaning that further cohorts of pupils will be seeking state school places for September 2026. This will add to existing pressures on an already oversubscribed system and increase 

the number of families affected by the current misalignment between admissions timelines and notice period requirements. 

However, a significant proportion of this financial impact is not simply the result of increased fees, but of a structural misalignment between policy implementation and the way education systems operate in practice. 

In particular, families are now caught between independent school notice period requirements, typically requiring a full term’s notice, and delayed confirmation of state school places due to oversubscription. In many cases, children applying for September 2026 entry have been placed on waiting lists, with confirmation of places not expected until the summer term. 

This creates an untenable position for families. Parents must either give notice to their independent school without any guarantee of a suitable state school place, risking their child being left without provision, or retain their place and incur the cost of an additional term’s fees, often amounting to several thousand pounds. Many families simply cannot take this risk. 

Education systems operate on fixed academic timelines that do not align with fiscal policy changes. The current situation is therefore not simply a consequence of policy change, but of a failure to align that change with the operational realities of the education system. This outcome was foreseeable and could have been mitigated. Families typically plan their children’s education over many years, and the introduction of these changes mid-academic cycle has disrupted those plans in a way that could reasonably have been anticipated. 

We are already seeing families drawing on savings, refinancing, or taking on additional financial commitments in order to manage this uncertainty, which is neither sustainable nor equitable. 

  1. In light of this, we respectfully call on the Government to take the following actions: Introduce a requirement that state school admissions processes confirm offers of places before the end of the Spring term for cohorts affected by increased demand arising from policy change, thereby aligning with independent school notice periods. 
  2. Establish a targeted, time-limited mechanism to address unavoidable financial loss incurred by families who are required to pay an additional term’s fees as a direct result of the misalignment between policy implementation and admissions timelines. 

This is not a request for reversal of policy, but for proportionate mitigation of unintended consequences that are now materially affecting children and families. 

We would welcome the opportunity to engage with the relevant policy teams within the Department for Education to explore urgent, practical solutions, and would be pleased to share further evidence and anonymised case studies from affected families. 

At its heart, this is about ensuring that children’s education is not unnecessarily disrupted, and that families are not placed in an avoidable position of financial and practical hardship as a result of policy timing. 

Yours sincerely, 

MICHELLE DANIELLS 

Founder & CEO