REPORT: Investigating means-tested bursaries at elite private schools

Almost half of all private school fee discounts are not means-tested, new research shows

• New Private Education Policy Forum (PEPF) research shows around £1
  in every £2 of HMC schools’ fee remission is not means-tested
• Spending on bursaries did not rise between 2020-21 and 2022-23 when
  inflation is accounted for
• Study finds considerable variation in spending on means-tested support
  across schools

This research was co-published with The Guardian.

Almost half of the fee remission offered to pupils by private schools is not means-tested and
therefore may not go to genuinely disadvantaged children, new research has found.

Private Education Policy Forum (PEPF), a think tank devoted to reducing educational
inequality between state and private schools in the UK, analysed annual accounts submitted
by 215 Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) member schools in England.

Means-tested support is one way that private schools with charitable status aim to
demonstrate their public benefit, as they are required to do under the rules that govern
charities.

Researchers found that 54.9% of overall fee remission was spent by schools on means-
tested support in 2022-23. This is up slightly from 54.2% in 2021-22, but still reflects that
around £1 in every £2 spent on fee remission does not go to means-tested support.

The other half instead goes towards non-means tested scholarships or discounts such as those
for children of staff, military personnel or the clergy. In 2022-23, approximately £185 million
was spent by schools on fee discounts which weren’t targeted at families on lower incomes.

PEPF’s research found considerable variation in spending across schools on means tested-
support – even between schools of similar gross fee incomes.

Schools with a gross fee income of around £30 million in 2023 varied between a £0.5 million spend and an almost £5 million spend on means-tested support. Reporting standards within annual accounts also
varied widely in quality, consistency and completeness.

Despite a widely publicised increase in nominal expenditure, the report found real-terms
spending on means-tested support decreased from £201 million in 2020-21, to £191 million
in 2021-22.

It then rose slightly to £194 million in 2022-23 but still below the 2020-2021 means-tested bursary spend, showing spending on bursaries did not rise between 2020-21 and 2022-23 when inflation is accounted for.

The report also found that the number of pupils receiving means-test support has declined in
recent years – from 15,105 in 2020-21 (11.4% of pupils in each school, on average) to
14,413 in 2021-22 (10.6%) and 14,028 in 2022-23 (10.2%).

Tom Fryer, PEPF researcher, report author and lecturer at the University of Manchester’s Institute of Education, said:

“Unless private school fee remission is means-tested, it can’t truly be said to serve under-
resourced students as the sector often claims to do.

From our research, it is encouraging to see a modest increase in the proportion of means-tested support which private schools have offered in recent years, but the fact that this only represents around half of the discounts they provide should offer pause for thought before their remission numbers are lauded.

“Similarly, the diversity of practice between schools – with some spending a considerable
proportion of their income on means-tested support, and others very little – suggests that
schools place different weight on their public benefit contribution.

“The wide variability in the standard of reporting of this support between schools is also a concern.

Private schools need to at the very least improve their reporting of fee remission if they are to justify the
charitable status which they still retain.“