Skip to main content

Brainhub guide

School-led tutoring: how schools fund tuition and choose a provider

The dedicated tutoring grants have ended, but the DfE still backs tutoring. Here is how schools pay for it, and what to check before choosing a provider.

Written by the Brainhub Editorial Team Cites published research Updated 2 Nov 2026 6 min read

Key takeaways

1. What changed

The Department for Education’s tutoring guidance for settings in England says the National Tutoring Programme and the 16-19 Tuition Fund ran over 2020/21 to 2023/24. The guidance does not describe a current dedicated tutoring fund.[1]

Tutoring has not gone away. The guidance says it is included in the menu of approaches in the pupil premium guidance, so schools can pay for it from pupil premium funding.[1]

2. Paying with pupil premium

The DfE’s pupil premium guidance for school leaders describes tutoring as intensive one-to-one or small-group academic support, and as an effective, well-evidenced targeted approach to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.[2]

Any activity funded from pupil premium must fall under an approach on the menu, unless it is needed to overcome specific barriers to attainment. One-to-one and small-group tuition sits in the menu’s targeted academic support tier.[2]

Schools must publish a pupil premium strategy statement by 31 December each academic year, using the DfE template, so tutoring plans belong in that statement.[3]

3. What makes tutoring work in school

The guidance says tutoring should supplement, and be linked explicitly to, high-quality classroom teaching. It works best when it is targeted at specific needs and supported by ongoing assessment.[2]

Quoting the Education Endowment Foundation, the DfE guidance says one-to-one tuition can result in up to five months’ additional progress and small-group tuition up to four months, when it is high quality and aligned to classroom teaching. For pupils with SEND, it suggests keeping groups to one or two pupils.[1]

Tutoring should supplement and link to what is taught in class.

4. Choosing a provider: a checklist

The DfE suggests checking these things when you choose an external organisation or tutor:[1]

Safeguarding

Adequate safer recruitment and safeguarding checks for the staff employed.

Qualifications

The qualification and experience of the organisation or tutor, ideally a subject specialist.

Delivery

Whether tutoring will be online, in person or both, and whether it fits your pupils, such as SEND and EAL.

Progress

How the provider will report progress to the classroom teacher.

Contracts

What contracts and data-sharing arrangements are in place before tutoring starts.

5. Evaluating the impact

The pupil premium guidance says to judge success by outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, not by the perceptions of those delivering the activity, and to keep or stop each activity depending on the results.[2]

6. How Brainhub can help

Brainhub delivers in-school, after-school and online tuition for schools and trusts, taught by qualified teachers, with progress reports for your staff. Our schools and trusts page explains the options, and our guide to the evidence on tutoring sets out the research.

Talk to our partnerships team: We can talk through the options and how we report progress to your staff. Start from our schools and trusts page.

Try it now

Test yourself on this page

Answer in your head first, then check.

  1. 1. Is there a dedicated national tutoring fund now?

  2. 2. Where does tutoring sit in the pupil premium menu?

  3. 3. When must the pupil premium strategy statement be published?

Your next steps

  1. Check your pupil premium strategy statement for tutoring plans.

  2. Ask providers about safeguarding, qualifications and progress reporting.

  3. Decide how you will measure outcomes before tutoring starts.

Subject guides to go with this

Want one-to-one help? See how our online lessons work.

Sources

  1. Department for Education (May 2024). Tutoring: guidance for education settings (non-statutory). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6644ac3dbd01f5ed32793bea/Tutoring_guidance.pdf
  2. Department for Education (February 2024). Using pupil premium: guidance for school leaders. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6425a1002fa848000cec105f/Using_pupil_premium_guidance_for_school_leaders.pdf
  3. GOV.UK. Pupil premium: effective use and accountability (last updated 24 August 2026). gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-effective-use-and-accountability

This guide is general study advice. Every student is different. A teacher can help you work out what fits.