Private schools are drawing up plans to launch a legal challenge against the Government’s VAT raid on school fees, The Telegraph can reveal.

A mother has said the forthcoming hike in private education costs has turned her family's lives "upside down". Naomi Keegan and her husband, from Devon, said they looked at private education because their son with special educational needs and their daughter weren’t thriving at their state schools.

New figures on falling private school rolls seen by i suggest an end to years of increasing independent sector pupil numbers

Private schools lost over 10,000 pupils last month in advance of Labour’s VAT raid. The number of students attending private schools fell by 1.7pc year-on-year in September, the equivalent of 10,540 fewer students, according to the Independent Schools Council (ISC).

Will Goldsmith said it was unfair to punish private schools for a lack of funding in the state sector, adding that cash raised by the tax is unlikely to make much difference.