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Taxpayers have forked out £500million in just three years to send top Government officials’ children to posh public schools such as Eton.

A Mirror investigation can today reveal the highly paid civil servants are getting a £26,000-a-year perk towards Britain’s most expensive education.

Just last year alone, the Foreign Office splashed out £27million for 717 children of diplomats.

The Ministry of Defence and Department for International Development are also spending tens of millions of pounds on the extravagant freebie.

Our revelations – which can be disclosed after a year-long Freedom of Information fight was won this week – come as thousands of families have their child benefit payments slashed.

Of the 717 diplomats’ children who get the Continuity of Education Allowance from the Foreign Office, four attend £30,000-a-year Eton where David Cameron was a pupil.

Another six children go to Winchester College, where Chancellor George Osborne went, while two attend top public girls’ school Roedean.

Another five attend £24,000-a-year Wellington College while one diplomat sends their child to Gordonstoun, where Prince Charles was educated.

The school fees are being paid out of the public purse while child benefit is being scaled back or axed for those earning more than £50,000.

A family with three children could lose as much as £2,500-per-year under the new scheme, which was brought in by the Tory-led Government.

The Foreign Office had fought hard against Freedom of Information legislation to keep secret the details of what schools the diplomats’ children attended.

But the Mirror won the case with the Information Commissioner after a year-long battle.

The FO still said it was not going to release them and it was due to go to a Information Tribunal but bosses caved in at the 11th hour.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “Where staff cannot or choose not to take their children overseas, we contribute towards the costs of boarding schools in the UK for children up to the age of 18, provided officers meet specific eligibility criteria.

“In some countries we do not permit staff to take their children for security reasons. In others, local schools of an acceptable standard are not available.”