PARENTS paying for the education of their children are facing increased fees as headteachers in East Lancashire cope with mounting bills.

Independent schools are having to push up fees by more than seven per cent in some cases following new government legislation.

Shortfalls in teacher pension schemes and rising National Insurance (NI) costs are being blamed for the price hike.

But today headteachers defended the move as a way of avoiding teacher redundancies and maintaining high standards.

In East Lancashire there are four fee-paying educational institutions - Stonyhurst at Hurst Green, Oakhill College in Whalley, and Westholme and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Blackburn.

They must bear a rise of one per cent in NI across the board as well as increases to pension contributions in the region of five per cent to cover a growing shortfall in a central pension pot.

The biggest rise will be inflicted on parents with children at Oakhill college where fees are set to jump from the summer term.

Bursar Liz McHugh said: "Like all schools we have battled to keep the fee rise as low as possible but this year that has been very hard because of the increase in NI contributions and increased pension contributions.

"With effect from next term, fees will rise by £153 to £2,200 per term for the senior school."

The increase at Oakhill is still less than the national average of 9.5 per cent - the highest ever in real terms. Fees have increased by more than the inflation rate in 19 of the past 20 years to an average of £6,700 a year for day pupils.

In Blackburn, Westholme school has warned parents that fees will reach £1,875 a term at the upper school for the same reasons, a rise of three per cent.

And parents sending pupils to QEGS face fees from Easter of around 3.5 per cent more - taking fees to more than £2,100 with further increases threatened for next year.

Headteacher Dr David Hempsall said: "At QEGS we try to strike a balance between keeping any fee increases as low as possible and making sure we retain those elements of our school that are valued by parents of the boys and girls here.

"At a time when teachers are having to be laid off in the maintained sector, I am determined that QEGS should continue to recruit and retain high-quality teaching staff, while keeping class sizes at optimum levels to allow the individual attention that our parents and pupils appreciate."

Headteacher at Westholme Lilian Croston said the school has had no choice but to pass the pension contribution and NI increases on to customers.

She added: "We run a really tight ship and came second in the country for value for money but I am aware of schools having to raise fees by up to ten per cent."

Independent school A-level pupils consistently hit top marks in exams but Dick Davidson of the Independent Schools Council said the increases have been sprung on schools at too short notice.

He added: "The considerable increases can not be masked by the schools in the independent sector as they can in the state. Schools in East Lancashire have done remarkably well to keep their fee increases down in light of this situation."

No-one from Stonyhurst was available to comment.