The Spectator in February 2014 reported that:
"Britain’s wealthiest parents can have their private school fees slashed and save on their tax bills under deals being offered by some of the country’s leading independent schools.
"Under them, parents are encouraged to stump up fees in advance for all or part of the years their children are at private schools.
"The advance payment is then invested by the private school which, because of its charitable status, is exempt from paying any tax on interest earned from the investment.
"One school, Radley College in Oxfordshire, with fees of just over £30,000 a year, estimated one in six of its parents have taken advantage of the offer - with £17 million accruing to the school as a result.
"The College says that as it enjoys charitable status it does not pay tax on the interest received and add that “this can be very beneficial when parents and others are assessed at the higher rate of tax.”
"If the parents had invested the money themselves, they would have been liable to pay tax on any interest earned. In addition, they benefit from the tax-free nature of the investment through the discounts offered to them.
The plans are designed for those parents capable of paying several years’ fees in advance.
Guardian August 18
"Between 2017-22, private schools will get tax rebates totalling £522m as a result of their status as charities.
The Charities Act defines a charity as an institution that’s established for a charitable purpose and “provides benefit to the public”. While the remit of the “advancement of education” means private schools fall into this category, you would be forgiven for balking at it. Rather than providing “benefit to the public”, modern private schools too often actively harm it, giving a tiny minority of already advantaged offspring a further leg up at the expense of already disadvantaged children.
"In 2017 only 1% of private school pupils were schooled for free. In June, it emerged that private schools are spending millions more on giving affluent middle-class families fee discounts than on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Even the means-tested bursaries include help for families on incomes as high as £140,000."
How can such a system be thought to be of genuine public benefit when only a miniscule number of free places are available to the less well off and charitable status is being used not only to directly benefit what is in effect a private business but also to benefit wealthy parents by indirectly reducing their tax burden?