Industry News
Charity Commission discusses private school status
Posted on 31st October 2007
The Charity Commission is meeting today to discuss how private schools and other organisations should behave to justify their charitable status.
Rosie Chapman, an executive director of the Charity Commission, told the Guardian many schools had already extended schemes such as bursaries and community programmes to ready themselves for the new guidelines.
She said independent schools will be expected to offer bursaries and services to local children who cannot afford fees and could be stripped of their charitable status if they fail to comply.
Earlier this month, master of Wellington College Anthony Seldon told the Daily Telegraph: "Creeping government regulation is chipping away at the schools' independence."
He said those who believe the independent sector has suddenly begun to engage in charitable activities to protect their status are wrong and that private schools have conducted charitable deeds for decades.
Currently, private schools give away £300 million in bursaries and scholarships – a figure which easily outstrips the estimated £100 million of benefits such schools gain from their charitable status, added Dr Seldon.
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