Woldingham School - Office of Fair Trading Investigation

Office of Fair Trading Investigation

On 20 November 2006, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced its decision following a 2005-2006 investigation (Ref No. CA98/05/2006) into allegations that fifty of England's top independent schools, including Woldingham, had broken competition law (section 2 of the Competition Act 1998) by sharing information about fees via the so-called "Sevenoaks Survey". The OFT made no finding as to whether there was an effect on the fee levels of the schools concerned. The schools agreed to pay nominal penalties of £10,000 each, a reduced penalty in view of a number of exceptional features in the case: a voluntary admission had been made, the bodies were all non-profit making charities and they had set up a £3 million educational trust fund for those who had attended the schools in the relevant period.

This situation came about as a result of a dispute between the U.K. Charity Commission for England and Wales, which regulates the behaviour of U.K. charitable organizations, and the Office of Fair Trading, responsible for profit-making businesses. Although U.K. charities are required to share financial and other information among themselves, U.K. businesses are not allowed to do so. The U.K.Competition Act 1998, which regulates the behaviour of businesses, was altered in 2000 to place independent schools — which are charities — in the same category as businesses as far as exchange of financial information is concerned.