Independent schools received £515million in advance fees last year, a significant increase from £121million received in 2023, analysis of annual accounts by The Telegraph has revealed.

This means parents may have avoided as much as £103 million in VAT.

Some parents tried to pay for five years’ fees in advance, which would have taken them past the next general election when the policy could be overturned if Labour were to lose power.

Brighton College, the most expensive independent school in the UK, received £50.1million in prepaid fees last year, an increase from £4.1million from 2023, with the number of pupils under the advance scheme increasing from 86 in 2023 to 819 last year.

Eton College’s advanced fee payments increased from £16.6million in 2023 to £52.7million last year.

Mairéad Warren de Búrca, managing director at Alvarez and Marsal Tax, told The Telegraph: “It’s not surprising that schools would have done this type of thing with parents and maybe encouraged parents to jump on the prepayment bandwagon.

“Only the very rich can afford to make those advance payments, or those with extensive wealth… so I’m not entirely sure they [the government] have managed to do what they intended to do.”