Cost of Private School UK: £6,226 a Term Before VAT

The cost of private school in the UK is now two numbers, not one: the fee the school quotes, and the fee plus 20 per cent VAT that you actually pay. The Independent Schools Council's 2026 Census, taken in January 2026 and published that June, puts the average termly day school fee at £6,226 excluding VAT. Add the VAT that has applied since 1 January 2025 and the same term costs £7,471, or roughly £22,400 across a full academic year. This page sets out what the sector's own figures say, how much it varies by region and phase, and what help exists.

The headline figures for 2026

Reading ISC fee data needs one thing kept in mind throughout: schools were asked to report their fees excluding VAT, so every published average is a pre-VAT number. Gross them up yourself.

Day schools: £6,226 a term, up 4.4 per cent on 2025. With VAT, £7,471 a term, about £22,414 a year.
Day places at boarding schools: £8,611 a term, up 4.0 per cent. With VAT, £10,333 a term.
Boarding: £14,980 a term, up 4.2 per cent. With VAT, £17,976 a term, close to £54,000 a year.

Those percentage rises are calculated on schools that responded in both January 2025 and January 2026, which is the fairest comparison available. They are underlying fee rises: the VAT sits on top of them.

Where you live changes the number more than anything else

Chart by Schools Insight, from ISC Census 2026 Table A.7.

A term at a London day school averages £7,580 before VAT. The same term in the North West averages £4,473. That is a gap of £3,107 a term, or £9,321 a year, before VAT is applied to either. The South East (£6,769), East (£6,496) and South Central (£6,330) sit closest to London; Wales (£5,084), Yorkshire and the Humber (£5,121) and the North West are the cheapest. Regional averages mix junior, senior and sixth form provision, so a region with many prep schools will read lower for that reason alone.

Fees rise as the child gets older

At day schools the progression is steady: £5,766 a term at junior level, £6,492 at senior, £6,754 in the sixth form, all excluding VAT. Boarding climbs more sharply, from £10,583 a term at junior level to £14,735 at senior and £15,601 in the sixth form, though few junior pupils board so the junior figure rests on a small number of schools.

The practical point for planning is that the bill grows in real terms as your child moves up, on top of the annual increase. A family budgeting from a Year 3 fee will be short by the time they reach Year 12.

What VAT actually did to demand

The sector is smaller than it was. The 2026 Census counted 526,611 pupils at 1,455 ISC schools, a fall of 19,029 pupils, or 3.5 per cent, in a year. Non-UK pupils whose parents live overseas fell 10.1 per cent, from 25,526 to 22,941, with visa rules as well as fees in the mix.

The ISC itself attributes the trend in part to the introduction of VAT on fees, alongside wider financial and demographic pressure. Whether a particular school passes the full 20 per cent through, absorbs some of it, or restructures what is inside the fee is a school-by-school question. Ask the bursar directly rather than assuming.

Help with fees is more common than most parents think

Fee assistance reached 183,705 pupils in 2026, which is 34.9 per cent of all pupils at ISC schools, with a total value of £2.1bn. That headline overstates the depth of help for any one family, because it includes small non-means-tested scholarships, but the means-tested end is substantial:

Means-tested bursaries: 36,676 pupils, averaging £14,077 each a year. Just under 9,000 pupils pay no fees at all.
Non-means-tested scholarships: 57,015 pupils, averaging £4,006. Useful, rarely transformative.
Local authority funding: 12,635 pupils, averaging £56,869 each, almost entirely pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans placed in specialist schools.

The balance of funding has shifted noticeably. Schools now provide £1.1bn of support, 55.4 per cent of the total, down from 72.7 per cent the previous year, while external funding has grown to £917m, driven mainly by local authority placements. If your child has an EHCP, the funding route may not be the school's bursary fund at all.

State school is free, but it is not costless

The fee is zero. The extras are not. The Department for Education's most recent survey of school uniform costs put average total spend on uniform and PE kit at £381.92 a child, made up of £343.28 at primary and £442.25 at secondary. On top of that come trips, music tuition, exam resit fees, wraparound care and transport, none of which is a fee but all of which lands on the same household budget.

Two things are worth checking rather than assuming. Free school transport is a statutory entitlement in defined circumstances, not a discretionary favour, and it is worth several hundred pounds a year to families who qualify: see free school transport eligibility. And most schools hold a hardship fund for trips and kit that is never advertised.

How to build a realistic budget

Start with the school's published fee for the year group your child will actually be in, not the entry year. Add 20 per cent VAT unless the school confirms otherwise in writing. Add the compulsory extras, which usually means registration and acceptance deposits, uniform, lunches if not included, and a per-term charge for anything from instrument hire to minibus travel. Then apply an assumed annual increase of at least the sector's recent rate.

If the total is uncomfortable, look at the alternatives before ruling private education out or in. A strong state school with a good sixth form, entry at 11 or 16 rather than at 4, and a genuine means-tested bursary application are all cheaper routes to a similar outcome. Our comparison of private versus state school weighs what the money actually buys, and how to choose a school covers the criteria that matter more than the prospectus. Start from the Schools Insight homepage for the rest of the admissions cluster.

Primary sources: the full fee tables are in the ISC Census and Annual Report 2026, and the uniform figures come from the Department for Education's cost of school uniform research published on GOV.UK.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does private school cost in the UK in 2026?

The average day school fee is £6,226 a term excluding VAT, according to the ISC Census taken in January 2026. With the 20 per cent VAT that has applied since January 2025, that is £7,471 a term, or about £22,414 across three terms. Boarding averages £14,980 a term before VAT, close to £54,000 a year with it.

Do private school fees include VAT?

Published ISC averages do not: schools were asked to report fees excluding VAT so the figures stay comparable year to year and across borders. Individual schools vary in how they present it, with some quoting a VAT-inclusive figure and some quoting the fee plus VAT separately. Always confirm which basis a school's published fee uses before budgeting.

Which region has the most expensive private schools?

London, at an average of £7,580 a term for a day place, excluding VAT. The North West is the cheapest at £4,473, a difference of £3,107 a term. The South East, East and South Central sit between the two, and regional averages include junior schools, which pulls some regions down.

How much did private school fees go up in 2026?

Underlying fees rose 4.4 per cent at day schools, 4.2 per cent at boarding schools and 4.0 per cent for day places at boarding schools, comparing schools that responded to both the 2025 and 2026 Census. Those rises are separate from, and on top of, the 20 per cent VAT introduced in January 2025.

How many pupils get help with private school fees?

183,705 pupils, or 34.9 per cent of the total, received some form of fee assistance in 2026, worth £2.1bn in all. The meaningful means-tested help goes to 36,676 pupils on bursaries averaging £14,077 a year, and just under 9,000 pupils pay no fees at all.

What does state schooling cost parents?

There is no fee, but the Department for Education's uniform research puts average spend on uniform and PE kit at £381.92 a child, split between £343.28 at primary and £442.25 at secondary. Trips, music lessons, wraparound care and transport come on top. Free school transport is a statutory entitlement in defined circumstances, so check whether you qualify.