Worried parents braced for shock school fee increases

  • Post published:April 21, 2019
  • Post category:Financial

Parents with children at private schools should brace themselves for an increase in fees because of a big rise in the cost of teachers’ pensions, according to James Cooney, money editor, writing a recent edition of The Sunday Times.

It’s been identified that independent schools may need to raise as much as £191m a year to fund a 43% increase in the amount they pay into the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

Fee increases mean families may be stretched further

More than 600,000 children in the UK go to a private school, which is approximately 7 percent of all school age children in the UK.

From September all schools and universities are being asked to raise employer contributions to the pension scheme from 16.48% of salary to 23.6%. The increase is being blamed on a hole in the scheme of about £15bn.

The government has said it will fund the estimated £830m needed to pay for the increases in pension contributions by state schools for the 2019-20 academic year but told private schools they must pick up the bill themselves.

Chris King, chief executive of the Independent Association of Prep Schools, said: “Schools really do not want to put up fees because that is bad for parents and probably bad for business.”

Neil Roskilly, chief executive of the Independent Schools Association, said: “Independent schools are very tightly run. They don’t want to put fees up, but they just can’t swallow this big increase in costs.”

Scholarships and bursaries can help reduce the financial burden

We always focus upon helping families to secure a scholarship place for their children. Where possible we will also review the possibility of a bursary being available to provide further assistance.

If you’re interested in exploring securing a place for your child at an independent or private school we’d be pleased to discuss your circumstances.

The right application, to the right school, at the right time

Because each school has it’s own criteria for scholarship and bursary applications, it’s important to make sure applications are make to the most appropriate school, at the correct time of the year.

Each family we work with have individual requirements and so we’re used to drafting a bespoke solution where required.

If you’d like to explore your options as regards private schooling, whatever your personal financial situation, you can contact us in confidence.