Charity Test For Private School

Regulators are set to rule on whether a fee-paying school should continue to enjoy charitable status. The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulators (OSCR) will decide if the High School of Dundee meets a new “public benefit” assessment.

The case is a test of legislation introduced in 2006 to assess the tax relief benefits of charities.

Under the new rules, charities must be able to demonstrate they have a charitable aim and benefit the public.

Other independent schools across Scotland are likely to face similar scrutiny in the coming months.

Critics of the charitable status enjoyed by the High School of Dundee, which charges annual fees of about £8,000 for day pupils and up to £24,000 for boarders, have described them as “elitist educational businesses”.

Defenders of the sector claim they save the country 35 times as much as they receive in tax relief, because their pupils do not take up places in state schools.

They point to the number of less well-off children who are able to enrol in independent schools because of grants and scholarships.

Despite interest in the ruling, the decision will not set a precedent for every fee-paying school with charitable status, as each will be judged by the regulators individually.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales is currently consulting on how to implement a similar test of “public benefit” south of the border by early next year.