The government must extend catch-up funding to avoid a further widening of the attainment gap following the Covid-19 pandemic, the prime minister, chancellor and education secretary have been warned.

More than 500 teachers and leaders have signed a letter to Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt and Gillian Keegan requesting a one-year extension of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) be included in next month’s spring Budget.

Action Tutoring, Tutor Trust and Get Further representatives delivered the letter during a meeting with No 10 officials today, which warns that if funding is removed “tutoring will decline significantly and the attainment gap will continue to widen”.

The four years of government NTP funding is set to cease at the end of the current 2023-24 academic year.

Many schools have already warned they will not be able to continue the catch-up tutoring aimed at plugging post-pandemic learning gaps without the government subsidy.

The £1.5 billion catch-up programme was introduced in 2021 after then prime minister Boris Johnson described it as ”our biggest national challenge” following school closures as part of lockdown measures.

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Redhill Academy Trust regional director Tim Croft said the NTP has made an “enormous difference” across the trust’s 16 primary and secondary schools across the East Midlands, and has been helping them to close the disadvantage gap.

“Access to tutoring is often limited to the schools and parents that can most afford it; NTP funding has allowed us to redress this imbalance but we will simply not be able to do this if funding is withdrawn,” he added.

The letter signatories work across 423 schools and colleges around the country - 34.9 per cent of them are senior leadership team members, 32.3 per cent are teachers, 9.5 per cent are department heads and 3.1 per cent are trust leaders.

National Tutoring Programme ‘is vital’

Similarly, Dame Julia Cleverdon, vice-chair of the Fair Education Alliance, who convened the letter, said: “At a time when the attainment gap is at its widest in 12 years, now is clearly not the time to pull the plug on this vital, impactful and evidence-based intervention.”

Research from both Ofsted and the National Foundation for Educational Research has found that school leaders reported tutoring as having a positive impact.

However, most said this may not be financially possible once government subsidisation of the scheme ends.

The government subsidy for the NTP has gradually reduced in value, from 75 per cent in the scheme’s first year in 2020-21 to 50 per cent this year.

Analysis by consultancy Public First estimated the NTP would eventually lead to 390,000-grade improvements in English and maths across two years of the scheme.

“The positive strides we’ve made in mitigating the effects of the pandemic can be further amplified with sustained catch-up funding,” said Activate Learning Deputy CEO Cheri Ashby.

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee issued a warning last summer that prospects of a “generation of children” could be damaged by the impact of the pandemic unless the government takes faster and more effective action.

The end of catch-up funding

Along with NTP funding, the Recovery Premium is also set to stop at the end of this academic year.

Earlier this week, accountants warned in the Kreston Academies Benchmarking Report 2024 that trusts would need to consider the impact of the Covid recovery funding cut on their budgets.

The Greenshaw Learning Trust flagged in its annual accounts that one of the principal risks to the trust’s 30 primary and secondary schools across the South East and West was being able to resource catch-up support for pupils significantly impacted by Covid once funding is removed.

Education Southwest CEO Matthew Shanks said the impact of the pandemic is still being felt across all of the trust’s 15 schools across Devon.

Department for Education tutoring advisory group chair Nick Brook has also called for the funding to be extended.

No 10, the DfE and the Treasury have been contacted for comment.

A DfE spokesperson said support is providing for children in the most disadvantaged areas of the country through the NTP, ‘record levels’ of pupil premium funding and increased support for English and maths.

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