Eton College has hiked the salary of its head master by £100,000 as it prepares parents to shoulder the full burden of Labour’s 20 per cent VAT charge in January.
Simon Henderson’s pay package for leading the world-renowned boys’ boarding school in Windsor increased by 40 per cent in 2022-23 and currently sits at between £370,000 and £380,000.
He is one of six private school heads receiving in excess of £300,000 a year, compared to the average head teacher salary of £73,335.
Eton’s latest accounts also disclose that 62 members of staff now earn more than £100,000, which is 50 per cent more than two years before, according to annual accounts filed with the Charity Commission.
It comes as parents educating their children privately are bracing themselves for higher fees from January, when the government’s imposition of VAT on fees takes effect.
Although many schools have pledged to increase fees by less than 20 per cent, Eton is adding on the full VAT levy from January, except for pupils on bursaries.
In a letter to parents, the school, which has educated 20 of Britain’s 58 prime ministers, including Harold Macmillan, Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Boris Johnson, said it had “no latitude” to reduce the impact on fees.
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