Fake Fee Requests Con Parents Out of Thousands at UK Private Schools, says New IRIS Education Research

-  Every UK private school has been targeted by a fee payment scam or attempted fraud in the past five years according to IRIS Education research
-  On average, parents lose £3,200 per successful scam, with one in five cases involving losses of up to £10,000
-  More than a third of schools lack confidence in the security of their fee collection processes as threat levels rise

LONDON, Jan. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents at fee-paying schools are losing thousands of pounds each year to sophisticated fee payment scams, with independent schools in the UK experiencing at least one scam or attempted fraud over the past five years, according to new research from IRIS Education*.

The research, which surveyed 100 bursars at UK private schools, found that scammers are routinely impersonating schools and sending fake fee payment requests to parents. All bursars polled said their school community had been targeted at least once, with the average bursar reporting five separate scam incidents over the period – equating to roughly one event per school, per year.

When scams succeed, the financial impact on families can be severe. Bursars polled by IRIS estimate that parents have lost an average of £3,200 per incident, while one in five (19%) say they have seen parents lose between £5,000 and £10,000 in a single case.

A growing threat requiring stronger defences

Despite the scale of the issue, many schools admit their defences are not enough. While nearly nine in ten independent schools (87%) say they have some procedures in place to guard against fraud, more than a third (37%) are not confident their current fee collection processes are secure. Senior schools are four times more likely than prep schools to say they lack adequate security measures (19% versus 4%).

Concern is growing across the sector. More than two-thirds of bursars (69%) say the threat of fee payment scams has increased over the past five years, while a similar proportion (68%) are worried about scammers targeting their school community in the near future.

Simon Freeman, Managing Director of IRIS Education, said: "These findings reflect the enormous challenge independent schools are facing from increasingly sophisticated fraudsters. The gap between having procedures in place and feeling confident those procedures actually work tells you everything - schools know their current defences aren't keeping pace with the threat.

"What concerns us is how quickly scammers have evolved their tactics. They're monitoring school communications, timing attacks around fee deadlines, and replicating official payment instructions with remarkable accuracy. Many schools are doing everything right with traditional processes, but those very processes have become the vulnerabilities that criminals are trained to exploit."

Why independent schools are increasingly vulnerable

According to the research, independent schools face a unique combination of risk factors that make them particularly attractive targets for fraudsters. High-value transactions, often involving multiple payment instalments throughout the year, create numerous opportunities for criminals to intercept or impersonate payment communications. Many schools still rely on email instructions for bank transfers, giving scammers multiple touchpoints to insert themselves into the payment chain.

The polling also found that many schools rely on a fragmented mix of payment methods that can increase exposure to fraud. Four in five schools (80%) offer Direct Debit as a fee payment option, but just two-fifths (38%) say it is their preferred method, despite it offering significantly stronger security than manual bank transfers or cheque payments.

Freeman continued: "Many bursars want to adopt more secure payment methods, but they're juggling multiple disconnected systems that create complexity and risk. The fraud we're seeing isn't sophisticated hacking - it's criminals exploiting the gaps between systems. When payment instructions are sent separately from management systems, or when parents receive payment details via regular email, you've created opportunities for impersonation."

Protecting school communities

IRIS Education has developed a best practice guide to cybersecurity threats for schools, groups and trusts, providing expert insight on the current cybersecurity landscape and practical steps to strengthen and develop organisation's safeguards. The guide is available here.

"As schools increasingly communicate digitally with parents and process more transactions online, the attack surface grows," Freeman said. "Schools need to treat payment security with the same seriousness they apply to safeguarding in other areas because ultimately, we have a duty of care to protect families from financial harm."

IRIS Education provides specialist school management software used by over 12,000 private and state UK schools, including iSAMS By IRIS, which serves much of the independent school sector, providing its solutions to over 1,700 private schools and groups in over 93 countries. The company facilitates over £15 million in payments between schools and parents every month.

iSAMS has enhanced its payments capability in response to these security challenges. The solution enables schools to offer secure, automated fee collection including Auto Debits (automated direct debit management) and international payments in multiple currencies (available Spring/Summer 2026), directly within their existing iSAMS environment. By eliminating the need for multiple system logins or manual payment instructions, schools can remove key vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit. Features such as automated direct debit collection and integrated payment processing provide parents with a seamless, secure payment experience - facilitated by the iSAMS Parent Cloud Portal - while significantly reducing schools' exposure to payment fraud.

For more information visit: https://www.iris.co.uk/education/

*The research was conducted by Censuswide on behalf of IRIS Software Group, among a sample of 100 bursars, treasurers, controllers and finance/operations professionals at independent and fee-paying private schools in the UK. The data was collected between 08.12.2025 - 10.12.2025. Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles. Censuswide is also a member of the British Polling Council. 

About IRIS Software Group   

IRIS Software Group is a global provider of mission critical software and one of the UK's largest privately held software companies. IRIS provides software solutions and services for finance, HR and payroll teams, educational organisations, and accountancy firms that takes the pain out of processes and lets professionals focus on the work they love. Through simplifying, automating and providing insights on everyday mission critical tasks for organisations of all shapes and sizes, IRIS ensures customers can look forward with certainty and confidence. 
 
IRIS is the largest third-party online filer with the UK Government. Ninety-three of the top 100 UK accountancy firms use IRIS software. One in six of the UK's workforce is paid by IRIS payroll offerings, and globally, six million employees receive their payslip via IRIS software every month. More than 850,000 UK employees are managed by IRIS HR solutions. Over 12,000 UK schools and academies use IRIS, with four million parents and guardians using IRIS apps to connect with their children's school; 300 million messages are delivered between schools and parents each year, and over £15 million transactional payments are processed every month. IRIS is certified as a Great Place to Work® and recognised as one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality in 2023. IRIS is also recognised as one of the Best Workplaces for Wellbeing, one of the Best Workplaces in Tech and one of the Best Workplaces for Women. 
 
To see how IRIS helps organisations get things right first time, every time, visit www.iris.co.uk or follow IRIS Software Group on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. 

About iSAMS by IRIS

Acquired by IRIS in 2020, iSAMS delivers a fully compliant, cloud-based and secure management information system (MIS) specifically designed to meet the unique needs of independent and international schools globally. Complete with advanced third-party integration capabilities and a modular design, it seamlessly integrates with every facet of school life, enhancing operational efficiency with a single source of truth. In July 2024, iSAMS was named 'Best Edtech Product – School Management Solutions' at the Global EdTech Awards, and was shortlisted in the 'Leadership and Management Solutions' category at the 2025 Bett Awards. Currently, iSAMS serves 1,700 schools across 93 countries, and manages data for more than 1.4 million students, offering robust protection of student information through encryption and its embedded privacy by design principles.

To learn more about iSAMS, click here.

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