Industry News
Private schools 'could drop charitable status'
Posted on 15th January 2008
A number of independent schools are thinking about abandoning charitable status in order to concentrate efforts on providing the best possible service to fee-paying pupils, it has been claimed.
Changes to Charity Commission regulations due to be unveiled later this month are expected to force independent schools to offer more assisted places to children from disadvantaged backgrounds in return for keeping tax breaks.
Several prominent figures within the independent sector have warned some schools may not be able to afford to do this, but Chris Woodhead of Cognita, a chain of 38 private schools, told the Daily Mail there is an alternative.
Mr Woodhead, a former chief inspector of schools, revealed a number of fee-paying schools are in talks about dropping charitable status and joining Cognita.
"My view is independent schools ought to be dedicating themselves 110 per cent to the interests of children and parents who pay their fees," he explained.
Parents who have already paid both taxes and school fees should not also be expected to fund bursaries for other people's children, Mr Woodhead added.
Schools minister Lord Adonis is currently trying to persuade some independent schools to join the state sector as part of the government's city academy scheme.