UK announces £1b plan for tutoring and mentoring for students to help them catch up from covid learning loss

The UK government has announced £650 million to be spent across state primary and secondary schools over the 2020/21 academic year as a one-off grant to support pupils in state education recognises that all young people have lost time in education as a result of the pandemic, regardless of their income or background.

Principals will decide how the money is spent, the government expects this to be spent on small group tuition for whoever needs it.

Separately, a National Tutoring Programme, worth £350 million, will increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged young people over the 2020/21 academic year.

This will help accelerate their academic progress and prevent the gap between them and their more affluent peers widening.