Private schools 'asking debt collectors to chase fees'

The bleak economic climate has led to many private schools enlisting the services of debt collectors, it has been revealed.

According to the Independent School Bursars' Association, many schools have been forced down this route because they still have salaries to pay and overheads to deal with.

Debt collecting agency Daniels Silverman said it is expecting to retrieve around £9 million in unpaid fees this year on behalf of the 74 private schools it works for.

Sean Feast, a spokesman for the Credit Services Association, said many parents are "caught up in a web of debt".

"This in turn means that the approach by the collectors has to be different ... It is unlikely that these people will ever have been in debt ... it is in the interest of the debtor, the agency and the school to keep the child in the school," he commented.

Some 14 members of the Independent Schools Council closed last year.


Posted by Dolcie Thacker



 


 

Meet the Teaching Personnel news team >>