The cost of sending day pupils to UK private schools rose slightly faster – 21 per cent – than retail price inflation in the five years since 2009, with London and the Southeast showing faster price growth than elsewhere, according Lloyds Bank.

The cost of sending day pupils to UK private schools rose slightly faster – 21 per cent – than retail price inflation in the five years since 2009, with London and the Southeast showing faster price growth than elsewhere, according to Lloyds Bank.

During that period the total number of pupils in such schools fell, the report said, by 1 per cent. The Retail Price Index rose 20 per cent over the period, the bank said.

Since 2009 the average annual private school fee for day pupils has increased from £10,176 ($16,737) to £12,345 in 2014. Regionally, the biggest rises in the past five years have been in Greater London (26 per cent), the South East and Wales (both 24 per cent). The lowest average increases in annual fees were in the West Midlands, East Midlands and East Anglia (all 21 per cent) and Scotland (20 per cent).

Average annual day fee in London was over £14,000, the report said.

Private school fees are highest in southern England with average annual fees in Greater London of £14,544 and £13,920 in the South East.  The lowest average fees are in the North (£9,984) – over £4,500 lower than in the capital - and Scotland (£10,431). In 2009 the only regions where the average annual fee exceeded £11,000 were Greater London and the South East; in 2014, average annual fees exceeded £11,000 in every region except the North, Scotland and the West Midlands.