A recent TES Connect article highlighted how a few high-fee private schools registered as charities use investments to benefit parents (“Top public schools use charity status to help parents reduce tax bills”, bit.lyTaxStatus). Such schemes are troublesome: any investment income should be used for charitable purposes such as bursaries for disadvantaged students, not as fee remissions; and long-term investments through third parties are notoriously prone to the vagaries of the markets.

Neil Roskilly, Chief executive, Independent Schools Association.