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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-tutoring-programme-guidance-for-schools-2022-to-2023/national-tutoring-programme-guidance-for-schools-2022-to-2023
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) provides primary and secondary schools with funding to spend on targeted academic support, delivered by trained and experienced tutors and mentors.
On 31 March 2022, the Department for Education (DfE) announced plans to simplify the programme for the 2022 to 2023 academic year. These plans involve providing £349 million of core tutoring funding directly to schools and giving them the freedom to decide how best to provide tutoring for their pupils.
We recognise that each school has pupils with varying needs, so have developed a tutoring proposition that provides a high degree of flexibility and choice.
There are 3 routes to providing subsidised tuition:
State-funded schools will receive NTP funding over the course of the 2022 to 2023 academic year to deliver tuition to their pupils. This funding is paid in termly instalments via local authorities and academy trusts. It is intended to cover 60% of the unit cost of tuition, with schools targeting the tutoring offer towards their pupil premium (PP) cohort and making up the remainder of the cost using PP or from other core school budgets.
The overall approach to the NTP in the 2022 to 2023 academic year is to put schools in charge of designing and delivering a tutoring offer that suits the needs of their pupils. DfE will support this by:
We have enlisted the expertise of 3 external delivery partners to support this mission:
As we return to pre-pandemic ways of living, our focus on helping pupils catch up on lost learning is turning towards the long-established challenge of tackling the attainment gap. It is a priority for the NTP to embed tutoring as a permanent fixture in our school system because it is a universally recognised method of addressing low attainment and educational inequality.
The government is committed to narrowing the attainment gap and improving outcomes for the most disadvantaged in society. Strong evidence suggests that the model of targeted, academic support, through highly trained tutors working with small groups and individuals, can make a difference to academic progress that can be expressed in months.
The NTP provides schools with funding to spend on targeted academic support delivered by trained and experienced tutors and mentors. It is available to pupils in years 1 to 11 across all state-funded schools, with funding allocations calculated based on the number of pupils eligible for PP.
Schools should be aware of the following guidelines when providing tutoring.
Schools should prioritise their PP cohort to receive tutoring, in line with the NTP’s objective of supporting disadvantaged pupils. They may also consider offering tuition to other pupils, where appropriate.
All schools will receive a funding allocation that, based on the average cost of a tutoring course, will allow them to offer tutoring to all their PP-eligible pupils.
This does not mean the programme is for PP-eligible pupils only – schools should prioritise this group, but also have the discretion to offer tutoring to other pupils.
They can also use their NTP funding flexibly to offer tutoring to a greater number of pupils, up to a maximum group size of 6.
Pupils in key stages 1 to 4 (years 1 to 11) are eligible for the NTP.
Training is available for all new tutors and is mandatory forany school-based tutor who does not hold qualified teacher status (QTS).
Tuition partners must ensure their tutors have received appropriate training.
60% of the tuition cost will be subsidised by DfE, subject to the information set out in the funding and paying for tutoring section. Schools must meet the remaining cost using other funding sources, including PP or other core school budgets.
Tutoring is an effective use of PP and included in its menu of approaches in the guidance for school leaders.
Small groups of 1:3 are recommended in order to maintain high-quality and impactful tuition, with the maximum permitted tutor-pupil ratio being 1:6.
We advise that tutoring courses should be 12 to 15 hours long to have a meaningful impact on pupil attainment.
Schools should plan their tuition with this in mind and avoid less effective piecemeal tutoring. They may also wish to deliver longer courses, if this meets the needs of their pupils.
For primary school pupils, tutoring can be given in mathematics, English and science.
For secondary school pupils, it can be provided in mathematics, English, science, humanities and modern foreign languages.
Alternative tutoring interventions are available for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Tuition can take place in-person or online, and should be agreed between the tutor and the school.
We expect schools to organise tutoring at an appropriate time for pupils so as to encourage high attendance. On any occasion on which a pupil has to be taken out of lessons for tuition, the school must ensure they still have access to the full curriculum.
Academic mentors are salaried, in-house members of staff who work alongside teachers to provide one-to-one and small group subject-specific tuition. This means they can reach a large number of pupils and embed tutoring within the school. Academic mentors are therefore well suited to schools with high levels of disadvantage or high numbers of pupils in receipt of PP.
Academic mentors are responsible for one-to-one and small group tuition. The role involves:
To apply for the role of academic mentor, candidates must meet both of the following qualification requirements:
Before being placed in a school, academic mentors undergo intensive online training provided by the Education Development Trust. This training consists of various pathways so it can be tailored efficiently to the skills and experience of each tutor. Headteachers may request that their academic mentor undertake specific parts of the training if they feel these are relevant to the needs of their school. The length of the training will vary for each individual, but will last approximately 14 hours for those without QTS.
The core training is mandatory for all academic mentors except those who completed it in a previous academic year. Schools may nominate academic mentors and school staff to undertake a refresher course, if required.
The minimum salary for an academic mentor is £19,000 per year, or £21,000 for those with a university degree. Schools may choose to set higher salaries at their discretion. All subsidies will be applied to the hourly per pupil cost of delivering tuition, not the total annual salary. For more information, see the funding and paying for tutoring and mandatory year-end statement sections.
An academic mentor’s standard working hours are structured around the school day, with flexibility to deliver tutoring sessions at lunchtimes or after school. If an academic mentor will be required to provide tuition during the school holidays, they should be notified of this at the start of their employment.
Schools are responsible for providing employment contracts, which should run to the end of the 2022 to 2023 academic year and must cover school holidays, including the summer holiday. The standard role is full-time, with pro rata part-time options available if preferred by the school and the academic mentor. Schools should additionally organise safer recruitment, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and employment history checks in line with standard practices for onboarding new staff.
If you are considering employing an academic mentor, and yours is a small school, you may wish to consider arrangements with another school in your academy trust or local area to share this tutoring resource. In such cases, both schools should include their total cost incurred and the number of pupil hours delivered in their year-end statement. This flexibility is encouraged if it works best for schools and extends the benefits of tutoring to a higher number of pupils in need of support.
Schools can apply to our delivery partner, Cognition Education, to be assigned an academic mentor. Cognition Education will register all academic mentors for training delivered by the Education Development Trust on successful completion of the recruitment process. In most cases, academic mentors will have completed training before deployment, although schools can choose to employ an academic mentor while training is in progress, if they wish.
You will be able to request an academic mentor with a specific skill or qualification, such as a background in a particular subject. Cognition Education will allocate an academic mentor for you to consider if one is available.
If your school already has an academic mentor you wish to re-employ, there is no need to follow this application process. Instead, you can employ them directly, following the employment guidelines outlined.
The tuition partner route allows schools to build partnerships with expert tutoring organisations that have been quality-assured by DfE. They provide schools with tutors who offer specialisms, including SEND, online tuition, English as an additional language (EAL) and subject-specific support.
Schools can spend NTP funding only on quality-assured tuition partners. If you would like a tutoring organisation to register as a tuition partner so you can continue to work with them, advise them to apply through Tribal, our quality-assurance partner.
Tutors are recruited and employed according to the standards set by each individual tuition partner. If you choose to work with a tuition partner, you should agree with your selected organisation how they will deliver tutoring to your pupils.
The majority of tuition partners from the 2021 to 2022 academic year will remain involved in the programme for 2022 to 2023. Schools can engage these organisations now to provide tutoring from the autumn term onwards. Schools that are already working with a tuition partner may wish to make arrangements to extend their partnership into the next academic year.
From the start of the 2022 to 2023 academic year, schools will be able to use the find a tuition partner service to select a tuition partner to meet their needs. This service can filter tuition partners by parameters, including postcode, subject and delivery method (remote or in-person). The search results will return the contact details for each tuition partner, and schools should contact organisations direct to make tutoring arrangements.
For the 2022 to 2023 academic year, schools that choose to work with a tuition partner need to establish their own commercial and financial arrangements with their selected organisation. This should include agreeing the cost of tuition, the service the tuition partner will deliver, and any other relevant arrangements. In establishing a commercial relationship with their chosen tuition partner, it is the responsibility of schools to ensure they are complying with policies or procedures relevant to their organisation.
Schools may use NTP funding only on tuition partners that are part of the find a tuition partner service. All listed tuition partners are subject to rigorous quality assurance, which will include ensuring they offer value for money to schools.
The school-led tutoring route offers flexibility for schools to identify their own tutors. These may be people recruited from their own staff, such as classroom teachers or teaching assistants. Alternatively, retired, supply or returning teachers can provide tutoring. School leaders can decide who will be an appropriate tutor with the skills and experience to deliver high-quality tuition to meet the needs of their pupils. Engaging an external organisation to provide tutoring personnel falls under the tuition partner route, which is covered in the previous section.
To ensure school-led tutoring is high quality, a comprehensive training package is available from the Education Development Trust. Training content will vary according to the professional background of individuals tutors, in recognition of the fact that staff hired as tutors will have different levels of experience working in a school setting. Training is optional for staff with QTS or who have completed the recommended training in a previous year.
Training is free of charge to schools and tutors, and will take place online. Schools that are hiring new staff as tutors in the 2022 to 2023 academic year will be required to provide proof of employment and can nominate them for training via the Education Development Trust website.
Many schools used staff in their employ to provide tutoring during the 2021 to 2022 academic year. Tutors employed in schools who are not qualified teachers will have completed mandatory training last year, which means they can continue to provide tuition without first having to complete the new training offer.
Schools can deploy their current staff to provide tutoring or engage new staff for this purpose. Those that are delivering tutoring via their current staff should ensure that the provision of tuition is treated as additional to any staff member’s core roles and responsibilities. Schools must ensure NTP funding is used only for tutoring activity.
If you are engaging new staff as tutors, you should ensure that all safer recruitment checks have been completed. It is the responsibility of schools to agree with tutors the terms of their employment.
The NTP is committed to supporting pupils with SEND to improve their progress and achievement.
Pupils with SEND can engage with traditional tutoring in specific school subjects, especially when it is adapted to meet additional needs.
To improve the tutoring experience and enhance academic outcomes for these pupils, schools can consider taking the following steps:
We recognise that some pupils with SEND would benefit from a boost to their progress in other academic areas, such as learning capabilities, sensory development and communication.
Tutoring provided through the NTP may include alternative types of established, evidence-underpinned intervention for pupils with SEND, which can be tailored and targeted to meet individual needs. An example of an alternative tutoring intervention is speech and language therapy.
Non-mainstream schools are eligible for a higher rate of funding to reflect their smaller group sizes and higher tuition costs.
The following non-mainstream institutions can receive the higher funding rate outlined in funding and paying for tutoring:
We encouraged schools to offer tutoring during the summer holidays in 2022. They may also wish to provide tuition during upcoming school breaks or the summer holidays in 2023, which will provide a valuable opportunity to ensure all pupils have a smooth academic transition, with the knowledge and skills to make a strong start in the new school year.
The delivery guidelines for term-time tutoring arrangements also apply to tuition in the school holidays, along with the following additional considerations:
Participation in summer tuition is voluntary for schools, pupils and tutors. Many pupils could benefit from targeted support to refresh previous lessons in a quieter, more focussed environment. Teachers should work closely with parents and pupils to ensure the right decision is made for each child.
Tutors should not be employed to provide childcare, enrichment, meals or entertainment. Schools are welcome to combine summer tuition with independently organised initiatives, such as private summer programmes taking place on school premises. However, NTP funding should be spent only on tutoring.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. You must ensure that appropriate safeguarding and safer recruitment measures are in place for all types of tutoring you are delivering. The following advice is intended to support schools to fulfil this.
Tribal, the tuition partner quality assurance agency, will review tuition partners’ application of safer recruitment requirements as part of its regular assurance activities, but it is crucial that schools continue to recognise their own role in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of their pupils.
Each tuition partner is responsible for recruiting its own tutors, including making decisions on their suitability for employment. If you are engaging a tuition partner to provide tutoring, you must continue to meet all the requirements set out in keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) to ensure tutors are suitable and the tuition partner has effective safer recruitment arrangements in place.
As would be the case for any third-party staff deployed in regulated activity, this will include obtaining satisfactory assurances of which pre-recruitment checks have been carried out by the tuition partner in relation to the individual tutor, and a copy of the tutor’s DBS certificate, as appropriate. Evidence requirements will vary depending on the type of school. These requirements are the same regardless of whether tuition is delivered in-person or online, paid or unpaid, and whether or not the tutor is based in the UK.
If a tutor is based overseas, evidence of in-country checks should supplement a UK-issued DBS certificate, but must not be accepted as a substitute. If the tutor is to be engaged in the provision of education for children aged 5 or under, schools should seek such additional assurances as may be necessary to satisfy their obligations with respect to childcare disqualification. KCSIE makes clear that inspectors will always report on whether or not arrangements for safeguarding pupils are effective.
If the tutor is employed by a tuition partner, the organisation must comply with the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. These require them to provide schools with confirmation of the identity of the tutor and information about their qualifications and experience, as well as any positive disclosures returned from the safer recruitment checks. They should also offer to provide copies of the tutor’s qualifications and references.
Academic mentors and school-led tutors will require pre-appointment and safer recruitment checks. Schools should complete these checks themselves, and they must be compliant with their obligations under part 3 of KCSIE.
Where an existing member of staff, such as a teacher or teaching assistant, has been engaged as a tutor, it remains the school’s responsibility to ensure they have been engaged in compliance with all safer recruitment requirements.
As with any activity, schools should consider the risks and any appropriate mitigations with regard to tutoring. For instance, it is good practice for small group and one-to-one tuition to take place in a visible area such as an open-plan work space, a library, or an information and communication technology suite, where possible.
If tuition is delivered online to pupils who are accessing it on the school site, a staff member should always be present to supervise. Schools must also satisfy themselves that appropriate safeguarding arrangements are in place for any online tutoring provided to pupils at home, taking into account their statutory obligations under KCSIE.
Schools must have regard to the requirements in KCSIE for any activities arranged by or on behalf of the school during the school holidays, such as summer tuition.
Schools should remember that annex C of KCSIE outlines the role of the DSL. It reads: ‘It is a matter for individual schools and colleges and the DSL to arrange adequate and appropriate cover arrangements for any out of hours/out of term activities.’
Duty of care still applies during the school holidays, and the DSL or a deputy DSL should always be available. Schools should review their DSL responsibilities and ensure arrangements are in place before tuition is offered in the school holidays, ensuring DSL contact details are up to date, and that the DSL or deputy DSL is contactable at all times by phone or social media, if necessary.
To find out how much funding your school will receive for the 2022 to 2023 academic year, see the school-level funding allocations that have been published online.
For the 2022 to 2023 academic year, we will provide the following funding for NTP:
Funding will be paid to your school in 3 termly instalments. You do not need to apply for NTP funding.
NTP funding can be used to pay for 60% of the total cost incurred by your school to deliver tutoring. This is subject to the maximum hourly per-pupil rate that applies to all NTP tutoring you provide, to ensure the cost of tutoring is not excessive.
The hourly per pupil rates are:
The next section of this guidance sets out how the hourly per-pupil rates apply in practice.
For all tutoring delivered in the 2022 to 2023 academic year, you must record the total cost you incur and the number of tutoring hours delivered, which you will be required to share with DfE via your funding return in summer 2023.
If your hourly rate (total cost incurred divided by number of hours delivered) is £18 or less (£47 or less for non-mainstream schools), we will cover 60% of the cost you have incurred.
If your hourly rate is greater than £18 (or greater than £47 for non-mainstream schools), we will cap your return at the relevant maximum rate.
These hourly per-pupil rates apply to all tutoring you deliver, whether this is through:
We will not provide any subsidy beyond your funding allocation, although you may provide and fund more tutoring in your school if you wish.
The subsidy for the 2023 to 2024 academic year will be 25%. Full guidance on funding arrangements for next year will be published in summer 2023.
The following examples illustrate some of the funding scenarios that may occur and how schools should address them, when managing their NTP funding.
Yours is a mainstream school with a funding allocation of £5,200. By the end of the academic year, you have provided 480 pupil hours of tutoring delivered by your tuition partner, at a total cost of £8,400.
Your hourly rate is within the maximum hourly rate of £18. We will subsidise 60% of the total cost you have incurred, which works out at £5,040.
This means that £160 of your initial £5,200 funding allocation will have been unspent. This will be returned by your school to the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) on completion of the year-end statement.
Yours is a special school with a funding allocation of £14,800. You have provided 550 pupil hours of tutoring delivered by in-house professionals, at the maximum hourly per-pupil rate of £47, at a total cost of £25,850.
60% of this total cost is £15,510, which is greater than your funding allocation. Your funding will cover £14,800 of the total cost you have incurred.
This means that £710 of your initial funding allocation is unspent. This will be returned by your school to ESFA on completion of the year-end statement. You’ll pay the remaining £11,050 from other funding sources, such as PP.
Yours is a mainstream school with a funding allocation of £40,500.
You provide 2,200 pupil hours of tutoring using a tuition partner, at a total cost of £39,600. You also employ an academic mentor, at a total cost of £25,500 (salary and on-costs), who provides 1,500 pupil hours over the academic year. In total, your school has spent £65,100 on 3,700 pupil hours of tutoring.
Because your hourly per-pupil rate is below the £18 maximum, your funding will cover 60% of the total cost you have incurred, which works out at £39,060.
This means that £1,440 of your initial funding allocation is unspent. This will be returned by your school to ESFA on completion of the year-end statement. You’ll pay the remaining £26,040 from other funding sources, such as PP.
Yours is a small mainstream school with a funding allocation of £1,950.
You’ve paid a classroom teacher to provide tutoring for pupils after school. Your hourly per-pupil rate was £20, and the teacher delivered 150 pupil hours over the academic year, incurring a total cost of £3,000.
Because your £20 hourly per-pupil rate is above the £18 maximum, we will cap your subsidy at £10.80 for each of the 150 hours. You can therefore claim £1,620, which is within your £1,950 allocation.
This means that £330 of your initial funding allocation is unspent. This will be returned by your school to ESFA on completion of the year-end statement.
Where possible, we expect local authorities to pass on NTP funding to applicable independent special schools (ISS) to enable them to provide tutoring for eligible pupils. This funding has already been paid to the local authorities.
To do this, local authorities are expected to:
Once they have received the funding, the ISS is required to provide the following information to DfE:
The ISS should decide how best to use the funding to provide tuition support for pupils, in line with the guidance provided. It will be the responsibility of the ISS to work with local authorities, where necessary, to decide which PP-eligible pupils will be supported and what constitutes a suitable tutoring offer for those pupils.
All independent special schools that have received NTP funding will be required to complete and submit to ESFA the year-end statement, detailing how much tuition has been delivered to their pupils. This form is expected to go live in June 2023 and is a mandatory return.
We expect local authorities to pass the NTP funding for looked-after children (LACs) to their virtual school head (VSH). The VSH should decide how best to use the funding to provide tuition support for the pupils they are responsible for, working with relevant schools as necessary.
It is the responsibility of the VSH to:
We understand that, in some cases, VSHs will want the flexibility to pass on funding directly to the relevant schools, which will be able to arrange tuition provision locally. Schools may also choose to provide NTP tuition for LACs, using the funding provided. However, in such cases, it is important to remember that the VSH will still need to fulfil the responsibilities outlined.
All local authorities, via their VSHs, will be required to complete and return to ESFA their year-end statement, detailing how much tuition has been delivered to their pupils using the NTP funding provided to them.
If a pupil cannot attend a scheduled tutoring session due to factors beyond the school’s control, you should seek to make alternative arrangements. This may involve rearranging the missed session for a time that is convenient for all parties or nominating another pupil to attend the session.
Schools that are working with tuition partners should agree in advance the process to follow if a tutoring session has to be cancelled. If a cancelled session was to have been delivered by the school’s own staff, it is for the school to make appropriate alternative arrangements.
If a tutoring session has to be cancelled at short notice, you can still include this in your year-end statement. This is intended to help schools or tuition partners avoid being financially penalised for circumstances beyond their control. We expect this will apply only to sessions that are cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice.
We recommend that you keep up-to-date, clear and accurate records of the tutoring you have delivered. Doing so will inform any data returns requested by DfE, including your year-end statement.
You may wish to record:
As a condition of funding, we have asked schools to make regular data returns during the 2021 to 2022 academic year, through both the education setting status form and the termly school census. For the 2022 to 2023 academic year, schools will continue to be asked to make data returns via the termly school census. Information on making this return will be included in the school census guidance.
ESFA is expected to release the year-end statement form in June 2023. All schools are required to complete and return it, and will be alerted when the form goes live.
In order to include tuition over the summer holidays, schools are required to complete their year-end statement in September 2023. If schools choose not to provide tuition over the summer, we strongly recommend that they submit their year-end statement as soon as possible once the form is available. Guidance, including exact timelines, and further assistance is also expected to be available in June 2023, and we will alert schools when it is released.
The 2022 to 2023 year-end statement will require data on:
The cost of employing an academic mentor to provide tutoring should be included in your funding return in the same way as for any other type of tutoring. This means that, in your year-end statement, you should declare the number of pupil hours of tutoring they have delivered over the course of the year and the cost you have incurred by employing them, including employer costs. The minimum salary for an academic mentor is £19,000 per year, or £21,000 for those with a university degree. Schools may choose to set higher salaries at their discretion and will cover the costs of all onboarding processes. If you have offered school-led or tuition partner tutoring alongside employing an academic mentor, your academic mentor’s hours and cost should be added to those of the other tutoring you have delivered.
ESFA is expected to make this form available in June 2023, and we will alert schools when it goes live. All schools will be required to complete it once they have concluded their tuition provision for the 2022 to 2023 academic year. They must return the form even if they have chosen not to use the NTP grant.
Funds cannot be rolled over to use in the 2023 to 2024 academic year. Any unspent funding will need to be returned by schools at the end of the 2022 to 2023 academic year, accompanied by the year-end statement.
Ofsted will inspect all schools by summer 2025.[footnote 1] As part of their evaluation of the quality of education and leadership and management, inspectors will consider how schools make effective use of tutoring.
In autumn 2022, data will be published on each school’s tutoring delivery, alongside their funding allocation and the number of their pupils eligible for PP. This data will be available to Ofsted to enhance transparency. Inspectors will not consider this data in isolation, however, and it will not determine a school’s inspection grade.
There are a number of ways you can engage with the NTP in the 2022 to 2023 academic year:
If you have general queries about NTP, or would like support to decide which tutoring route will meet your school’s needs, you can contact us by:
email: tutoring.support@service.education.gov.uk
phone: 0300 373 0891 (8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday)
Every school will have at least one inspection between May 2021 and July 2025. ↩
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