The government’s new Covid catch-up tsar, Sir Kevan Collins, will serve for a minimum of nine months, it was revealed today.

The former chief of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has been appointed as education recovery commissioner for an initial nine months, with an option for an additional term of equal length to follow.

The Department for Education said that Sir Kevan’s role would be unpaid. However, reasonable expenses will be reimbursed.

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It added that the new catch-up tsar did not have to compete for the advisory role due to his extensive knowledge and expertise in education, and the urgency of the challenge.

Covid catch-up: Tackling the problem of pupils’ lost learning

Last week, the government announced the appointment of Sir Kevan as commissioner to lead a comprehensive programme of catch-up aimed at young people who have lost out on learning during the pandemic.

Sir Kevan will be leading the programme after 30 years in the education sector. Most recently, he was chief executive of the EEF.

Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, told Tes at the time the appointment was announced that he hoped the plan would extend beyond the end of the pandemic to be used to help pupils catch up in the long term.

“This is a really important step forward and suggests the government really means business to help pupils catch up, not just for coronavirus,” he said.

“The £1 billion [of additional funding announced] was important but it was just a fund for catch-up - this looks like as serious long-term plan for it. There is now a recognition from Downing Street that school closures are the four horsemen of the education apocalypse.”