Parents are remortgaging their homes to raise funds for school fees in anticipation of increases following a new Labour government imposing 20% VAT.

David Boddy, chair of education business consultancy ASIS, who works with a mortgage broker to match lenders with parents wanting to take out loans, told The Telegraph he has spoken to parents “with tears in their eyes” and that there’s been a “substantial uptick” in interest in remortgaging since the general election was called.

Independent Schools Council chief executive Julie Robinson said: “We know there is a lot of concern around how an unprecedented tax on education might affect affordability for parents. It is possible that stories such as these will become more common and independent education less accessible as a result of VAT on fees.”

Silas Edmonds, headmaster of Ewell Castle School in Ewell, Surrey, commented: “Parents have said to me ‘it’s either mortgage or the school fees – we can’t do both’.”