Private School Fees Calculator
How much does private school cost in the UK in 2026? Across the 434 independent schools with fee data on Houseroom, the average day fee is £25,539 a year — about £8,513 a term — and half of schools charge between £18,333 and £31,536. In Greater London, where most of our coverage sits, the median is £24,278 — around £27,090 at senior day schools and £21,626 at preps. Since January 2025 school fees carry 20% VAT, and most published figures now include it.
Pick an area and year group below to estimate an annual bill, the per-term cost and the full total to age 18. For a school-by-school breakdown with uniform, lunch and transport stacked on top, use the true annual cost tool.
Based on 151 senior / all-through schools with day fees on file in Greater London. Fees are as published for the latest year on file — where a school explicitly publishes VAT-exclusive figures we add 20%; otherwise the figure is used exactly as published. Tuition only: uniform, lunch, transport and trips are on top.
Average private school fees by area, 2026
Annual day fees (tuition only) across the areas where we track the most schools. Click through to browse the schools behind each figure.
| Area | Schools with fee data | Average day fee | Median day fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wandsworth | 29 | £26,888 | £25,227 |
| Camden | 26 | £28,104 | £26,784 |
| Westminster | 24 | £29,462 | £31,530 |
| Kensington & Chelsea | 23 | £32,392 | £32,205 |
| Richmond upon Thames | 22 | £22,882 | £21,408 |
| Barnet | 18 | £21,124 | £21,572 |
| Hammersmith & Fulham | 16 | £28,439 | £27,905 |
| Croydon | 15 | £19,954 | £20,070 |
| Ealing | 12 | £25,775 | £21,470 |
| Merton | 12 | £21,432 | £22,934 |
| Southwark | 12 | £23,176 | £24,848 |
| Hounslow | 10 | £18,467 | £17,905 |
| Kingston upon Thames | 10 | £22,307 | £21,134 |
| Bromley | 8 | £26,744 | £26,511 |
| Haringey | 8 | £27,753 | £26,115 |
Private school VAT: what the 20% means
Since 1 January 2025, tuition fees at UK private schools have been subject to 20% VAT. Most schools responded by publishing VAT-inclusive fees, some absorbed part of the increase, and a few still publish VAT-exclusive figures. Of the 434 schools with day-fee data we track: 61 explicitly publish VAT-inclusive figures, 13 publish VAT-exclusive figures (this page adds 20% to those), and 360 don't state the treatment — for those we show the fee exactly as published rather than risk over-stating it. The “VAT within” figure in the calculator is therefore illustrative: on a VAT-inclusive fee, one sixth of the amount is VAT.
Private school fees: your questions answered
How much does private school cost in the UK?
Across the 434 independent schools with fee data on Houseroom, the average day fee in 2026 is £25,539 a year — roughly £8,513 a term over three terms. The median is £25,188, and half of schools charge between £18,333 and £31,536 a year. That is tuition only: uniform, lunch, transport and trips come on top.
Do private school fees include VAT?
Since 1 January 2025, private school fees in the UK have been subject to 20% VAT, and most schools now publish VAT-inclusive figures. Of the 434 schools with day-fee data we track, 61 explicitly publish VAT-inclusive fees and 13 publish VAT-exclusive fees (we add 20% to those); for the remaining 360 the treatment isn't explicitly stated, so we show the fee exactly as published. As a rule of thumb, one sixth of a VAT-inclusive fee is VAT — about £4,198 of a typical £25,188 annual fee.
How much are London private school fees?
Across 328 Greater London independent schools with fee data, the median day fee is £24,278 a year (average £24,180), with most London schools between £17,388 and £30,529. The stage matters more than the postcode: London senior day schools have a median of £27,090 a year, while prep and pre-prep schools sit around £21,626.
What is the cheapest private school option?
Day fees are far cheaper than boarding, and prep years are usually cheaper than senior years. Among the schools we track, day fees start from around £3,000 a year at small low-cost independents, and a quarter of schools charge under £18,333. Means-tested bursaries can reduce fees substantially — sometimes to zero — and many schools offer scholarships; see our scholarships and bursaries tool for what awards are actually worth.
How much does private school cost from 4 to 18?
A full private education — Reception through Year 13, 14 school years — costs about £352,632 at today's median day fee of £25,188 a year. Allowing for 4% annual fee inflation, the realistic total is closer to £460,737, before uniform, lunch, transport, trips and one-off charges like registration fees and deposits.
How much does boarding school cost?
Across the 86 schools with boarding fees on file, the median is £54,635 a year (average £50,879), with most boarding fees between £43,184 and £60,872. Boarding fees typically cover accommodation and meals as well as tuition.
Compare fees, rankings, entry ages and open days across every independent school we track.
School-by-school fees with VAT, uniform, lunch, transport and trips stacked on top.
Where the money is real — award percentages and means-tested bursaries across schools.
- Source — the most recent annual tuition fee on file per school (from each school's published fee schedule), falling back to the midpoint of the school's published headline range where we don't hold a structured fee line.
- VAT (20%) — added only when a school explicitly publishes VAT-exclusive figures. Where the treatment isn't stated, the fee is used exactly as published so averages never over-state. Required by HMRC since 1 January 2025.
- Bands — medians and quartiles are computed per area and stage, and only published where at least four schools have data; thinner cells fall back to a wider group and say so.
- Total to age 18 — compounds the typical annual fee over the remaining school years to Year 13 at the fee-inflation rate you set. Tuition only; extras and one-off charges are not included here.