Cost of private education soars to £160,000

PARENTS face a bill of almost £160,000 to have their children privately educated after a dramatic rise in the cost of fees in recent years.

The average cost of a private education for a day pupil who started reception in 2003 and left after sixth form in 2016 was £156,653, according to Lloyds Bank Private Banking.

Annual fees have almost doubled in that time, with the average cost of sending a child to private school for a year rocketing from £7,308 in 2003 to £13,341 today, a rise of 83 per cent.

In London, parents have seen fees rise by 25 per cent in just five years.

Costs have risen far more than average earnings, putting a big strain on families who choose private schools.

School fees rocketed by an average of 21 per cent in the past five years, up from £10,983 in 2011 – an increase that is 8 per cent above inflation.

The steep increase means that the average £13,341 school fee accounts for almost 40 per cent of the average fulltime earnings of £34,545, a marked change from 2003, when fees accounted for 28 per cent of earnings.

However, pupil numbers at private schools have remain largely unchanged over the past five years.

Those going to senior school have fallen by 3 per cent, but numbers going to private sixth forms have grown by 10 per cent, and those at junior schools have gone up by 6 per cent.

Schooling in London was the most expensive in Britain, costing £179,145 to educate children from the ages of five to 18. Parents in the North paid the lowest fees, at £126,609.