In The Lilias Graham Trust v HMRC [2021] UKUT 36 (TCC) (18 February 2021) the Upper Tribunal (UT) held that accommodation provided by a trust was part of a single exempt supply of welfare services and not excluded from exemption by VATA 1994 Sch 9 Group 7 note 7.
The Lilias Graham Trust (LGT) ran a residential assessment centre where the parenting capabilities of parents referred by local authority social workers were assessed. A variety of support and advice was provided to parents during their residential placements (which on average lasted around 12 weeks). The local authorities were charged a fixed fee per family per week by LGT for the services it provided.
The issue in dispute was whether the accommodation provided by LGT was excluded from exemption by VATA 1994 Sch 9 Group 7 note 7 (‘the note 7 exclusion’). This exclusion provided that the welfare services exemption did not apply to the supply of...