New test for independent schools

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Rosie Chapman, an executive director of the Charity Commission, said she did not expect there would be widespread problems passing the test, but schools that failed to comply would be stripped of their charitable status.

Ms Chapman said schools would have to satisfy a public benefit test from next year.

The new test would amount to a shift in the cultural divide between private and state schools, she said.

"What is new and will cause a shift in culture is that now trustees need to think about essentially why they are there, and what is it that organisation is doing to provide a public benefit," she said.

The 2006 Charities Act puts a new onus on charities, including 80% of private schools, to prove they are benefiting the public.

Every school registered as a charity will have to set out in writing in its annual report how it is benefiting students who cannot afford the fees.

Ms Chapman added: "Inevitably if you have a statutory requirement ... down the track one does enforce it."

Officials are hoping to publish a timetable for considering guidance across the range of charities before the end of the year.