Scots private schools to keep charity status after ‘shambles’ of an inquiry

FOUR of Scotland’s leading private schools are set to retain their status as charities after a three-year investigation by regulators which was branded a “shambles”.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is today expected to announce that Hutchesons’ Grammar in Glasgow, Merchiston Castle in Edinburgh, Lomond School in Helensburgh and St Leonards in St Andrews will all continue as charities.

It comes after an investigation was launched in 2008 amid claims the schools did not “provide public benefit”, charged high fees and did not offer enough support to those who could not afford to pay. The schools were urged to make changes or face losing their charitable status, but The Scotsman understands that all four have met the tests which were set by the regulator.

However, there is anger that the institutions were put through the process, with one school source calling the investigation a “shambles”, saying it had been “botched” and “unnecessary”.

The source said: “They [OSCR] botched it three years ago – I don’t think they understood enough about the schools. They had only done one school previously, the High School of Dundee, and it was clear they didn’t know enough about independent schools, which are all very different.

“It was a real waste of time – I really don’t think we are doing anything differently to what we were. It’s done no lasting damage to us, but it has been a waste of time and a smaller school might not have survived the process. I really do feel that it’s been a bit of a shambles, frankly”.

Legislation was introduced by the Scottish Parliament in 2006 to tighten up control of charities following scandals involving cancer charities. The new rules mean charities must show they have a charitable aim, such as providing education, but also that they have a wider public benefit.

In the case of independent schools, where the benefit is only provided to a section of the public, the charity must show it does not operate unduly restrictive practices, such as overly high fees.

At the time of the OSCR ruling in 2008, just two of the 583 pupils at Lomond School in Helensburgh received means-tested assistance, while at St Leonards fewer than 1 per cent of pupils received help.

John Edward, director of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS), said he had always been confident the schools would pass the tests set out.

He said: “We would like to see the detail in black and white, but we would be happy and relieved at this decision. We’ve always said we were confident the schools would pass.

“These schools do deliver a public benefit and take their charitable status very seriously. We’ve always said the amount these schools give is disproportionate. Parents make sacrifices to send their children to independent schools, but the schools make big sacrifices themselves”.

OSCR declined to comment.

About one in 20 children in Scotland are educated by independent schools, although the figure in Edinburgh is closer to one in four.

According to SCIS, the average cost of sending a child to a private school in Scotland is £11,700 a year. About £35 million has been given away by schools across Scotland this year in bursaries, according to SCIS.