Guidance

National Tutoring Programme: guidance for schools, 2022 to 2023

Updated 7 August 2023

Applies to England

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:

• academic mentors – full-time, in-house staff members employed to provide intensive support to pupils who need it
• tuition partners – tutors recruited by external tutoring organisations quality-assured by DfE
• school-led tutoring – members of a school’s own personnel, either currently employed or specifically engaged for this purpose, including retired, returning or supply teachers, support staff, and others

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:

• providing core funding to schools
• recruiting, via a delivery partner, well-qualified academic mentors
• helping schools find high-quality tuition partners
• providing training, via a delivery partner, for school-led tutors
• offering support to any school that requires it

Our delivery partners

We have enlisted the expertise of 3 external delivery partners to support this mission:

• Tribal, which will quality-assure tuition partners
• Education Development Trust, which will train new school-based tutors and academic mentors – information on how to access this training is available in the academic mentors and school-led tutoring sections
• Cognition Education, which will recruit academic mentors and deploy them to schools – find out more from them via Contact Us · Cognition Education

Information on how to request an academic mentor is available in the employing an academic mentor section

Embedding tutoring

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.

Tutoring arrangements

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.

Pupils

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.

Coverage and funding

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.

Age group

Pupils in key stages 1 to 4 (years 1 to 11) are eligible for the NTP.

Training

Training is available for all new tutors and is mandatory for any school-based tutor who does not hold qualified teacher status (QTS).

Tuition partners must ensure their tutors have received appropriate training.

Subsidies

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.

Group sizes

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.

Course length

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.

School subjects

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).

Delivery

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

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.

Role and responsibilities

Academic mentors are responsible for one-to-one and small group tuition. The role involves:

• tutoring in one or multiple subject areas
• working closely with teachers to ensure tutoring content directly supports the curriculum covered in the classroom
• planning tutoring sessions and providing feedback on pupil progress
• providing tutoring during school holidays, if requested by a school

Entry requirements

To apply for the role of academic mentor, candidates must meet both of the following qualification requirements:

• 3 A levels at grade A* to C or the equivalent, such as BTECs or T Levels
• GCSE English and mathematics at grade 4 or C, or above

Training

Before being placed in a school, academic mentors should undergo 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.

Employment

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. They may employ academic mentors full-time or part-time, with working patterns to be agreed as part of putting in place employment contracts. Schools must also 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.

Employing an academic mentor: 2022 to 2023

Schools can request an academic mentor through Cognition Education, one of our delivery partners. Cognition Education will register all academic mentors it recruits for training delivered by the Education Development Trust. 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.

Tuition partners

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.

Quality assurance

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 them how they will deliver tutoring to your pupils.

Finding a tuition partner: 2022 to 2023

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.

Paying for tutoring delivered by a tuition partner

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.

School-led tutoring

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.

Training and quality

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 and mandatory for all other tutors employed by schools and funded by the NTP.

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.

Providing school-led tutoring: 2022 to 2023

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.

Supporting pupils with SEND

The NTP is committed to supporting pupils with SEND to improve their progress and achievement.

Best practice

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:

• request a tuition partner with SEND specialists and work closely with tutors to discuss accommodations for pupils with additional needs
• maintain small group sizes of 1:1 or 1:2 for pupils with SEND
• align any tutoring provision with the requirements set out in a pupil’s education, health and care plan (EHCP), where applicable
• ensure learning is tailored and targeted to meet the individual needs of each pupil

Alternative tutoring interventions

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.

Funding

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:

• local-authority-maintained special schools
• special schools not maintained by a local authority, including independent special schools, where the placement is funded by the local authority
• special academies and free schools
• alternative-provision academies and free schools
• pupil referral units
• local authority maintained hospital schools and academies
• SEND units within mainstream schools
• resourced provision within mainstream schools

Summer tuition

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:

• pupil eligibility – schools should strongly consider targeting their tutoring at PP-eligible pupils and pupils in exam years, tutoring must be delivered only to pupils currently on roll at your school
• delivery – tutoring can take place in-person or online, schools should make arrangements for the school site to be open during the holidays, where needed
• timetabling – schools have the flexibility to organise condensed summer tuition over 1 to 2 weeks or for the entirety of the summer holiday period
• safeguarding – schools retain their usual safeguarding responsibilities in relation to provision for their pupils, and must ensure a designated safeguarding lead (DSL) is available for the entirety of the period in which summer tuition takes place, see the safeguarding section for further information

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

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.

Tuition partners and safer recruitment

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, school-led tutors and safer recruitment

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.

Delivery

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.

School holidays

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.

Funding and paying for tutoring

Your NTP funding allocation

To find out how much funding your school will receive for the 2022 to 2023 academic year, see the school-level funding allocations.

For the 2022 to 2023 academic year, we will provide the following funding for NTP:

• mainstream schools: a minimum of £162 per PP-eligible pupil
• non-mainstream schools: a minimum of £423 per PP-eligible pupil

Funding will be paid to your school in 3 termly instalments. You do not need to apply for NTP funding.

Spending your 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:

• mainstream schools: £18 of which the DfE subsidy will be £10.80 (60%)
• non-mainstream schools: £47 of which the DfE subsidy will be £28.20 (60%)

The next section of this guidance sets out how the hourly per-pupil rates apply in practice.

Reporting your NTP costs

For all tutoring delivered in the 2022 to 2023 academic year, you must record the total cost you incurred and the number of tutoring hours delivered, which you will be required to share with DfE via your funding return in September 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:

• your existing staff
• new staff you bring in specifically to provide tuition
• academic mentors
• tutors engaged via a tuition partner

We will not provide any subsidy beyond your funding allocation, although you may provide and fund more tutoring in your school if you wish.

Details of funding arrangements for the 2023 to 2024 academic year are now available. The subsidy for the 2023 to 2024 academic year will be 50%.

Funding examples

The following examples illustrate some of the funding scenarios that may occur and how schools should address them, when managing their NTP funding.

Example 1: working with a tuition partner in a mainstream school

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.

Rate calculation
Total cost	£8,400
Total pupil hours	480
Hourly per-pupil rate	£17.50

Funding result

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 recovered by the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in the 2023 to 2024 academic year, following your completion of the year-end statement.

Example 2: providing school-led tutoring in a special school

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.

Rate calculation
Total cost	£25,850
Total pupil hours	550
Hourly per-pupil rate	£47

Funding result

60% of this total cost is £15,510, which is greater than your funding allocation. Your NTP funding will cover £14,800 of the total cost you have incurred.

Your remaining cost is the difference between your funding allocation and the total cost you have incurred. This works out at £11,050, and you will need to meet it from other funding sources, such as PP.

Example 3: a mixed tutoring offer in a mainstream school

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.

Rate calculation
Total cost	£65,100
Total pupil hours	3,700
Hourly per-pupil rate	£17.59

Funding result

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 recovered by the ESFA in the 2023 to 2024 academic year following your completion of the year-end statement. You’ll pay the remaining £26,040 from other funding sources, such as PP.

Example 4: providing school-led tutoring in a mainstream school

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.

Rate calculation
Total cost	£3,000
Total pupil hours	150
Hourly per-pupil rate	£20

Funding result

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 recovered by the ESFA in the 2023 to 2024 academic year following your completion of the year-end statement.

Local authorities

Independent special schools

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:

• identify PP-eligible pupils that they have placed in ISSs
• inform the ISS who the PP-eligible pupils are when passing on the funding
• inform the ISS whether the NTP funding is for mainstream, SEND or both, and that it is ringfenced for tutoring
• pass on the payment as promptly as possible, ideally in one instalment

Local authorities will need to include information about the tutoring delivered by ISSs in their year-end statement. This will include:

• the names of all ISSs they have transferred NTP funding to and the amount transferred to each ISS
• the total hours of tutoring delivered by ISSs they have transferred NTP funding to

Local authorities will also need to report on any NTP funding spent centrally in their year-end statement. This will include:

• the total amount spent on tutoring
• the total number of hours delivered
• the total number of pupils tutored

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. ISSs will not need to complete a year-end statement, but should inform local authorities how many hours of tuition they have delivered using the grant.

Virtual school heads

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:

• decide which LACs to support, how many hours tuition they will receive, and in which subjects - we expect that this will be decided in close co-operation with appropriate schools, as necessary
• comply with the data collection requirements by completing the mandatory year-end statement
• pay for tuition costs that are not covered by the 60% NTP subsidy

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.

Cancelled tutoring sessions

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.

Data, reporting and accountability

Keeping records of your tutoring provision

You should 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:

• the number of PP-eligible pupils who have received tutoring
• the number of other pupils who have received tutoring
• how many hours of tutoring you have provided to PP-eligible pupils
• how many hours of tutoring you have provided to other pupils
• the type of tutoring you have provided (whether it was delivered by an employee of the school or a tuition partner)

This will help you to fulfil data returns when requested by DfE. For the 2022 to 2023 academic year, you will be asked to provide the following returns:

• termly school census (October 2022, January 2023 and May 2023)
• mandatory year-end statement (September 2023)

Further information on making your termly school census return is available.

Mandatory year-end statement

All organisations that receive the 2022 to 2023 NTP grant are required to complete a year-end statement. The year-end statement form will open on Monday 4 September and close on Friday 29 September 2023.

We will email schools once the year-end statement form and guidance are available. All schools, except ISSs, are required to complete it when all tutoring for the 2022 to 2023 academic year has been delivered. You must return the form even if you chose not to use the NTP grant. If you do not submit the form, ESFA will recover your full funding allocation.

Local authorities should include details of funding transferred by them to ISSs in their year-end statement.

Schools can continue to use their NTP funding until 31 August 2023, including tuition delivered in the summer term and school holidays to help pupils prepare for the next academic year.

To complete the 2022 to 2023 year-end statement you will need to provide data on:

• how much your school has spent in total on NTP tutoring (include the portion funded by the NTP grant and the contribution from your school)
• how many hours of tutoring your school delivered – this should include every hour delivered per pupil (for example, if you delivered a 15-hour course to 3 pupils, you would count it as 45 hours)
• how many pupils in your school have received tutoring through the NTP (only count each pupil once, even if they have received multiple blocks of tuition)

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. 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.

Grant recovery process

We will calculate your recovery amount using the information you have submitted and your original allocation, in line with the funding and paying for tutoring section of this guidance.

We will email you details of your final recovery amount in November. If you have not received details of your recovery by Friday 17 November, email us at tutoring.support@service.education.gov.uk.

We are currently planning to recover funds from local authorities at the end of December 2023, and from academies in January 2024. ESFA will make the recoveries. Funds cannot be rolled over to use in the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

Further information

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.

What to do next

You can engage with NTP in the following ways in the 2022 to 2023 academic year:

• request an academic mentor for your school through Cognition Education
• nominate an academic mentor or school-led tutor for online training by registering with NTP though the Education Development Trust
• use the find a tuition partner service to filter organisations and contact individual tuition partners directly using the details provided
• register as an NTP tuition partner – your tutoring organisation can apply via Tribal

Help and support

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)

1. Every school will have at least one inspection between May 2021 and July 2025. ↩