Halifax Financial Services: School fees on the up
Fees at private schools have risen by more than twice the rate of inflation over the past five years, Halifax Financial Services has claimed.
The cost of sending a child to a private school has rocketed by 41 per cent in half a decade, compared to a growth in retail prices over the same period of 18 per cent.
Parents have witnessed an increase of six per cent in the past year alone.
Halifax’s study also revealed that the proportion of pupils attending private schools has increased from 6.2 per cent in 2001-02 to 6.7 per cent in 2006-07.
Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax Financial Services, said: “With school fees continuing to rise by more than inflation and private education proving increasingly popular, parents need to plan their finances as early as possible if they want to afford private schooling for their children.”
According to privateschools.co.uk, there are more than 2,500 private schools in the UK.