School fees will rise to pay for poor, say head

Middle-class parents will be forced to pay higher private school fees to subsidise places for poor children after a landmark ruling today, headteachers warned.

Independent schools must prove that they operate for "the public benefit" to justify their charitable status and the lucrative tax breaks that accompany it.

But the Charity Commission warned that two of the first five independent schools it has investigated failed to comply with the new law and will be stripped of their charitable status unless they provide more bursaries within 12 months.

Leading headteachers accused the Commission of mounting a "politically driven" attack on private education and warned that fees will inevitably rise to fund subsidised places.

The watchdog's focus on bursaries is too narrow, according to Andrew Grant, chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses Conference of 250 schools, including Eton, Harrow and Westminster.

Mr Grant told the Standard the ruling made life "extremely difficult" for smaller schools.

"The Charity Commission has drawn the public benefit test with a self-defeating narrowness, almost as if they were setting out to give themselves the opportunity of making life as difficult as possible for independent schools," said Mr Grant, head of St Albans School.

"There is, it seems to me, a good deal of bureaucracy and number of politically driven elements to this."

Martin Stephen, High Master of St Paul's School in Barnes, said the commission's ruling could threaten the survival of some schools.

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