Sabrina Malik, 35, is an assistant accountant from Leeds. Her son, four, has special needs and is currently waiting for an autism assessment. He has been attending a nursery attached to an independent school. Ahead of the general election on 4 July, Labour has pledged to raise the VAT on school fees by 20 per cent. Sabrina explains the impact it would have on her family
I was really looking forward to a Labour government, but I can no longer vote for them.
My son was born by emergency C-section when I was seven-and-a-half months pregnant. Afterwards, I spent six weeks with him in intensive care – later, we ended up in the hospital again because he didn’t want to take his milk. I had to be trained to feed him through a tube through his nose.
As a toddler, he was completely nonverbal – he wasn’t speaking. He wouldn’t communicate or make eye contact. I didn’t know what to do. We put him on the speech therapy list but were told the wait was two to three years to be seen. That was when a friend told me about an independent school nearby that had a nursery attached to it and a qualified speech therapist. They also had a Sing and Sign teacher who came into school twice a week, to help toddlers communicate through song.
Since starting there, his speech has massively improved. He saw the school’s private speech therapist and she was very good. That was just in time for him to start school.
We live near a good local primary school in Leeds. The children there are so well-behaved and polite, but when I looked at the classroom sizes – 35 children in one class – I was really worried about my son getting lost there. I didn’t want him to take a step backwards, even though I can’t afford to keep sending him to the private primary school. I thought swapping would be bad for him and the progress he had made.
We are currently waiting for an autism assessment. He has very specific needs and he can be quite difficult to deal with. He is only comfortable around certain teachers. I didn’t want to go 10 steps back and put him through the trauma of changing schools, and then end up having to send him back to the private school again.
I am not exaggerating when I say I am having sleepless nights. I’ve had to go to the doctor for anxiety. I am an assistant accountant, and my salary just goes to my son’s school. I have £500 left a month after paying the fees. My husband is a data analyst and he pays for the rest of our expenses but he also has to pay child maintenance and his elderly parents need financial support. Last week I had a problem with my car and had to pay £75 which I did not have spare.
There are no bursaries in the independent school until Year 7, so I have been looking at trying to find weekend work. There aren’t any professional roles so I have been considering working part-time as a cleaner. I’ve applied to a couple of places, but if I do that, what time am I spending with my child? I would hardly be seeing him.
We are a working-class family. We haven’t been on holiday in three years and I have a nine-year-old car. With everything that has happened over the past few years in politics, I was looking forward to voting Labour. I was really hoping for some change. I don’t want to vote Tory but Labour want to raise up the independent school fees by 20 per cent. Lots of people might say: well if you can afford the school fees, can’t you afford the extra £300 a month that this policy will introduce? But that’s the shopping and household bills.
That is the only reason that I can’t vote for Labour. I have been telling extended family and friends not to vote for them too. I have voted Labour in the past, but this time I will either vote Tory or Liberal Democrat. They’re the only two parties that aren’t changing policies on education.
If only the rich can attend private school, it’s only going to create more division. My son asked me if we would be leaving the school like some of his friends. I told him no, but I have no idea. What do you say to a child in this circumstance?
