School fees are always a delicate issue for any independent school. A fine balance is required between the provision of high quality services and education, proper pastoral care for pupils and the need for the school to deal with ongoing issues of cash-flow and balance sheets. Parents expect that by sending their children to fee paying establishments, they are in fact buying more than just a service or an education – they are accessing pastoral development, ongoing care and (particularly in the case of boarding schools) a whole way of life for their children. Unfortunately, that does not always translate into easy fee recovery when the parents run into difficulty!
For secondary schools, pupils now spend the majority of their years in secondary education in a "critical" part of their education, being the two years for GCSEs, the one year for AS levels or the one year for A level. This is also a time where the 'softer' aspects of schooling are of great importance, at a time of physical and social development – the teenage years! It can therefore seem difficult for the school to take decisive action in relation to a failure by a parent whose child is in secondary education to keep up with the school fees, and for that reason the school might be reluctant to pursue the issue as it otherwise might be inclined to do in different circumstances.
In purely reputational terms, no school would want to be presented to the media, locally or nationally, as one which chases down debts at the earliest opportunity. The invocation of the Court's jurisdiction must be seen as the last option for any school in this position, and it will often be the case that reputational concerns override immediate concerns about cash-flow.
Schools should however be well placed to spot early on the signs that there may be a forthcoming issue with fee payment. In circumstances of parents' relationship breakdown, or where a parent is facing redundancy or other financial difficulties, a school may benefit from early intervention – a discussion in frank terms about potential funding difficulties is far better before those issues arise than after the event.
Among the sensible things that a school can do to ensure quick and efficient payment and recovery of school fees is to have in place a clear fee structure. The fee structure policy should be made clear to parents from the outset, in addition to clear provisions as to when the school expects fees to be paid, and on what basis. These should be part of the school contract with parents, in order to provide simple enforcement to the school. Such a policy might involve sending two or three reminder letters to parents at certain intervals after the fees became due, followed by a suggestion that third party agents or lawyers might be instructed with a view to taking the matter further.
There are however some alternatives that the school might consider, particularly if a constructive dialogue is available with parents who are having difficulty paying fees. Among the most attractive of these from the school's perspective is the suggestion of a voluntary charge over the parents' property. This has the double benefit of providing ongoing security for the school's debt, without the need for the school to take any formal (and possibly confrontational) action to recover the debt. From the parents' perspective, if they are prepared to consent to such a charge, this can also provide relief for them to alleviate their immediate cash-flow concerns, while knowing that their child's education continues to be secure.
A Charging Order is of course available as an enforcement option in Court cases, but it is always preferable for a dialogue to occur between parents and the school at an early stage, and perhaps as soon as any cash-flow concerns are identified to the school, in order that a sensible way forward can be agreed.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
