What’s the comfortable household income for private school in London?

[gobbledoops]

Just that really. I have spoken to a few colleagues who are in the 200K household income range, which to my mind would have put them comfortably in the private school for two DC zone, but who are sending their kids to state schools because of financial concerns. So, private school parents, what do you earn to be comfortable sending two kids to private schools and paying for after school care, mortgage and all the bills?

Let’s not make this a VAT thread please.

We were earning 300k between us and were not planning on using private schools. We could have afforded it but it wouldn't have been that comfortable. Were were contributing a lot to pensions though (about 50k a year each).

2 kids in private school is gonna be 60k plus in london which you need to earn about 100k to take home (take home pay for a 100k job is about 67k I think).

£200k seems light to me for 2 DC in private school in London. It all depends on other outgoing eg mortgage, but when I did the calcs on a £200k household salary, would only afford private school for one DC.

for two DC, I’m thinking combined salary £300k-£400k but that’s just a guess.

I think a min of £250k for prep and probably £400k for secondary..? Especially if paying a London mortgage. We certainly couldn't educate 2 all the way through school on our (then) c. £150k income many moons ago, so went on to have 2 more children, moved out of London and used the Kent grammar schools!

(I felt horribly guilty for years that both DH and I had had private boarding school experiences all the way through and our children didn't, but my parents advised us not to start if we couldn't afford it very comfortably.)

My sister sends 2 kids private prep over £20k a year. They have savings to cover the crossover years and VAT and no mortgage. Salary £150k (joint total)

The issue for many is that they will also have big mortgages in order to have a family home in London.

as another poster mentioned, on £200k about half of their earned income would be going to school fees if they have two in secondary. Most people aren’t going to have that big a proportion of income uncommitted in some way shape or form, and even if you did it would probably feel pretty risky given the way fees are increasing.

not sure what the right number is, as so much will depend on their other assets and obligations, but if I were depending primarily on income I would probably want to be north of £300k and would want to be in a situation where we were also able to build savings while also paying school fees.

We do this on £220k per year and would rather not! But we had issues with happiness in the local state schools so that’s why we’ve done it. I worry about money though.

It’s not about “superior” education to me (I am generally anti private schools) but it’s about my children’s happiness and a school with excellent pastoral care. I think the current state system is kind of broken (and I work in education).

(We don’t pay for wraparound childcare or holiday childcare though - I work in school hours and term time.)

I don't think we can afford private for 2. I think in London in the area I'm in (zone 2), we would need 400k+ to be comfortable (not too comfortable), which is insane in my opinion. Can choose to go primary only which is more affordable. My opinion is primary is better than secondary private but that's personal, both cost wise and the research says that a lot of love for learning is built in by 7-11 yo. Who knows though, personality of kids is a big factor and also whether sen. You should think of own circumstances, not just income, there are many great state schools, in the end have no fear, with good/outstanding state school and good home life, they'll all end in the same place, just different depending on their personalities, desires and wishes which are difficult to predict.

The friends I have who send their kids private typically have significant parental support for fees, or mortgage, or both, often in addition to decent salaries. It all depends what you have to pay for as well as what you earn. In our case having a massive london mortgage makes it impossible to even consider also paying school fees but we are very lucky with local schools which is partly why houses in our otherwise fairly unexciting area are expensive.

£200k is way too little. We were on that and couldn't keep it up in terms of fees. £350 - £400k allows for decent housing, pension contributions etc. and a nice lifestyle (as in, equal to what state parents in naice catchments have with their spare dosh). In London it's very hard/expensive to get into or buy near good schools, even at that insane income level. Even if you had the money, housing rarely comes on the market. So it's easier to buy a cheaper (relatively of course) house and put kids in private.

Definitely more than £200k for two kids. You would need £100k pre tax to cover fees for both. We calculated that by the time ours was at secondary it would be nearly £50k per child per year.

It is really subjective depending on the mortgage situation and whether childcare is still required around school hols and after school. It's not common in my experience to have grandparents nearby in London.

I'm not in London but close by. £200k is doable with a small repayment mortgage [under £400k] and the cheaper end of private schooling under £20k with no wraparound care costs. But you won't be driving two cars or going on more than one reasonably priced holiday a year and will have to budget tightly in order to save for a rainy day. With childcare costs on top it's going to be really difficult to afford so I suspect the London prep schools are going to be worst affected.

I appreciate it sounds an utterly astronomical sum to earn but pretty much 50% goes straight back to UKGOV. Mortgage & school fees alone takes care of £70k. Then my council tax alone is £4k pa. Energy another £4k, public transport to work £6k leaving about £15k disposable income for other bills, holidays, clothing and feeding the ravenous hordes I live with.

DH and I try to not think about what age we could have retired at if we a) didn't have kids and b) hadn't opted for private school. 😖The only secondary school we are in catchment for does not have the level of education support [SEN] our kids need and so we will have to sell the house if needs be. It is I fully accept, a first world problem and something I am prepared to do. I'd happily send my kids to a state school and went to one myself. We're certainly not sending them there for the networking opportunities and ski trips !

I earn £300k with a bonus of c.20%. DH is NHS so much less. It’s the mortgage rates going up that’s screwed us and an eye watering mortgage that when we bought was totally affordable. I thought I’d be flying business class to the Maldives twice a year on my salary not having to withdraw my kids from school.

Our joint income is £190k and we’ve only just about managed 2 kids in private in NE where both schools and cost of living generally are cheaper. I imagine that would be pretty difficult in London.

We're on around £400k and just starting our eldest in reception this autumn, with a view to sending our two to private all through. Since we've been paying for full time nursery without the benefit of any of the discounts given to most other families, it's really not that much of a difference! We don't have any inheritance or family help.

I'd say we can afford it fairly comfortably, but we're not so wealthy that we don't miss the money at all. Imagine the holidays we could go on! But at the end of the day, our children's education is far more important.

I don't think we're buying better grades, or a "network," or trying to surround ourselves with a certain kind of person. We just want our kids to have a rich and varied experience, and to love their time at school, without it being impacted by the sorts of issues that afflict state sch

Hit send too soon! The issues that afflict many state schools thanks to a decade plus of destructive under investment from the fucking Tories. This is what every child deserves, ours are not particularly special - they're just lucky, I guess.

£140k, single salary, Surrey. Honestly, it really depends on your mortgage and lifestyle. My group of friends are all in the just over £100k group, and we all had two DC's in private.

it depends on priorities. On £200k, with a mortgage that is not outrageous, and limited holidays, it would be doable. Maybe. But if you want to have decent holidays, maintain a bog standard terrace and save for pensions/kids (assuming DC and not a stellar pension from employer) - then no.

We are £300+ and I don't feel like we're financially comfortable enough for it, we also want to use savings to do work to our house and overpay our mortgage.

We also live 5 mins walk from an outstanding state school with small classes and a great sense of community. DS is going into Year One and there will be 19 of them in his class (with one teacher and one TA). It would seem pointless to pay when that's an option!

Yup we put our DD through private on a joint income of about 90k but I’d paid off my mortgage - still went on holiday to Asia every year - the school fees were under £20,000 per year then …

Thanks to everyone who posted! These are some crazy figures. I would think that even in London a household income of 300K plus is only the preserve of someone in the top half percent at best. How are we getting the close to 10% educated in private schools numbers?!

Private schools outside of London are much cheaper. In Sheffield for example there’s lots of private schools and the fees are more like 11k / 12k a year. Which is pretty achievable for the consultants working at the hospitals of professors at the uni for example.

I have not found one yet 11k a year north of the midlands?

usually 20-25k mid/north time

Hmmm - I’m not an expert but I know of one school in Sheffield which starts at just under 12k / year. Probably goes up for older years though.

@mynameiscalypso

Wow! Where do you live?!