CPLC Work in Progress Seminar: ''Private' Schools, their Charitable Status and their Property Rights: Legal Barriers to Attenuation'

Speaker: Dr Brian Sloan, University of Cambridge

At its annual conference in 2019, the (opposition) Labour Party voted for a manifesto commitment to ‘integrate all private schools into the state sector’. Albeit unlikely to be implemented as things stand, this would ‘include’ the ‘[w]ithdrawal of charitable status and all other public subsidies and tax privileges’ from such schools, and a commitment for ‘private’ schools’ ‘[e]ndowments, investments and properties’ to be ‘redistributed democratically and fairly across the country’s educational institutions’. This paper will investigate the legal difficulties associated with implementing the Labour motion. It will begin by outlining the current status of ‘private’ schools within English charity and other law. It will then consider the effect of removing charitable status from those schools, and how a redistribution of their property would compare with the current cy-près mechanism of redistributing the property of charitable purposes that have ‘failed’. Finally, it will consider the potential implications of the proposal for rights protected under the European Convention on Human Rights, including the right of peaceful enjoyment of possessions for natural or legal persons (Article 1, First Protocol), and respect for the rights of parents to ensure education for their children ‘in conformity with their…religious and philosophical convictions’ (Article 2, First Protocol).

This seminar is open to all LLM, MCL and PhD students, Faculty members and Faculty visitors.