One in four children could be forced to leave their private school if VAT is added to fees.

A further 50% of families would consider moving house to be near to a cheaper private school or so children who are boarding could attend as day pupils, as reported by The Times.

Labour plans to add VAT at 20% to school fees if it wins the general election, which it says will raise £1.6bn to invest in state schools.

King's School in Gloucester is already preparing for the change and said it doesn't plan to pass on the full cost of the VAT to parents.

Mr David Morton, headmaster at King's, said parents have been informed there will be a 4% fee rise in September 2024 and, if Labour does win the election and introduce 20% VAT on fees, a 9% increase in 2025.

Mr Morton said: "We anticipate the Labour Party coming to power later this year. As headmaster and trustees of a charity and school which has thrived for 483 years, the governors and I take our responsibilities seriously: we cannot afford to wait for the election outcome before we take action.

"Anyone who works in education would applaud Labour's stated ambition of increasing investment in state-maintained schools. However, the repeated Labour promise that they will add a 20% tax onto independent school fees is an illogical and unfair way to find funding for state schools.

"King's parents are typically very hard-working and make significant sacrifices to pay school fees - they are not the super-rich that the Labour Party portrays. Our parents already pay taxes for a state school education which they do not use, so adding VAT onto school fees is punitive and unfair. The Labour Party's proposal to add 20% onto school fees is simply unaffordable for the majority of our families."

Mr Morton added that the school supports pupils from a wide range of backgrounds to the tune of around £1.5 million every year, through scholarships and bursaries.

The Times reported that a survey of 2,000 people with investable assets of £250,000, released to accompany the latest Saltus Wealth Index Report, revealed that 26% of parents would remove their children from private school if VAT was introduced.

If fewer parents chose private education, Labour's promised investment would be spread more thinly, with more demand on the state education system.

Among parents whose children are about to start school, 8% said they would no longer send them to private school, while 25% said they would have to borrow money to help with fees.

The Labour Party said the plans are an investment in delivering a brilliant state education for all children, funded by ending tax breaks for parents who choose to educate privately. It added that schools don't have to pass on the VAT cost to parents and that private schools have been increasing school fees over the level of inflation for the past decade.