Parents who pay fees for their children’s education are said to be worried about positive discrimination at the universities

The recruitment by Oxford and Cambridge of more state pupils has led to private-school parents claiming that their children are being edged out by “social engineering”, a leading head teacher has said.

Anthony Wallersteiner, head of Stowe School in Buckinghamshire, said that access and participation plans had “successfully driven down the number of Oxbridge places awarded to privately educated pupils”.

Many fee-paying parents were now making claims about social engineering and positive discrimination, he told The Times. “There’s a much more concerted effort by [Oxbridge] admissions tutors to drive down the number of places given to independent schools and redress the balance and to put in contextual details,” Dr Wallersteiner said.

His intervention is the first acknowledgement in recent years by a senior