Show you are helping state pupils, private schools told

Threat to £700 m unless facilities are opened up, warn charity chiefs

PUBLIC schools could lose hundreds of millions of pounds in tax breaks unless they show how they share facilities with other children.

Staff have been told to perform an annual audit as justification for hanging on to annual charity tax breaks worth £700 million.

The Charity Commission has issued guidance “encouraging” schools, where fees can top £30,000 a year, to explain how they open up music, arts and sport to state pupils in a “public benefit test” to satisfy charity law.

There are 1,267 public schools in the UK and 998 have charitable status. Previously they were required only to agree themselves how they should meet a public benefit test in law. Schools such as Eton, Winchester and Harrow will now be expected to clarify in annual reports how many state students they have helped.

The guidance was introduced to head off a move by MPs and peers to force private schools to open facilities to state pupils, as well as helping with careers advice.

The commission said it acted after concerns in Parliament that “too few” facilities were being made available: “Updated guidance now encourages trustees of charitable schools, as a matter of good practice, to comment on their individual approaches.”

Rob Wilson, the civil society minister, said he now expected independent schools to “do more through partnerships” with state pupils.

He promised the commission would carry out research in 2017 “when enough time will have elapsed to assess the impact”. The Government this month saw off an attempt by Labour to force public schools by law to open up music, arts and drama departments, as well as offering help with work experience and university places.

Mr Wilson ruled out an “inflexible legislative solution” to make private schools act, saying it “could damage the goodwill that exists in the independent sector”.

Alan Milburn, a former Labour Cabinet minister and now chairman of the Government’s Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, welcomed the guidance. He told The Sunday

Telegraph: “Breaking down the Berlin Wall between private and state schools can help build a more socially mobile Britain.

“Finding ways to pool their resources for the benefit of more youngsters helps create more high quality educational opportunities in our country,” he said.

Public schools also welcomed the plan. Julie Robinson, general secretary of the Independent Schools Council, said: “Independent schools have long provided bursaries and shared facilities, largely without any fanfare, so the Charity Commission guidance has been very useful in providing clarity.

“We hope this method of improved reporting really goes to show the exciting ways our schools work with the communities around them and that new legislation is unnecessary.”

Sarah Atkinson, director of policy and communications at the commission, said: “Our guidance sends a clear signal to independent school charities: if you have good facilities for sports or the arts, sharing them with local state schools is an excellent way for you to make sure you run your charity for the public benefit.”