Most independent schools want to open up access, they say

The Independent Schools Council says many private schools want to offer more means-tested bursaries to bright pupils.

At the same time, they would scale down scholarships based solely on academic merit, which they say often favour better-off families.

But the OFT has said a sector-wide agreement could be anti-competitive.

Jonathan Shephard, the general secretary of the Independent Schools Council, said most schools would have been in favour of a general movement towards more means-tested bursaries.

"Schools are increasingly moving away from scholarships towards bursaries which are means-tested. No doubt the Charities Commission would like it too. It would benefit society as a whole as it would open up independent schools to people who could not otherwise afford them.

"We are piggy in the middle with the Charities Commission encouraging us to do what we would like to do, to open access a bit more. We would like the OFT to make it easier to widen access."

Competition law

What the schools would like to do is to have an agreement from the OFT that they are allowed to set an advisory limit that a maximum of 10% of school fees could be covered by an academic scholarship.

But the OFT argues that such a deal would amount to schools fixing the market.

A spokesperson for the OFT told the BBC News website: "Subsidising places for children from poor families would not be in contravention of competition law.

"However, what may fall foul is if schools got together to fix levels of bursaries and scholarships among themselves."

The OFT says that because schools are private enterprises, competing against each other for pupils, a sector-wide policy could result in some schools or parents being disadvantaged. The OFT has been investigating allegations of fee-fixing among some independent schools for two years.