The government has quietly abandoned hope of reaching its target of six million course starts under the flagship National Tutoring Programme. Ministers repeatedly pledged to deliver the target by 2024. But with the latest official figures showing just 3.4 million starts as of January, and ministers only expecting to fund one million next year, the benchmark is now unlikely to be met. The Department for Education announced this week that schools will only have to contribute 50 per cent of the costs towards tutoring under the catch-up scheme next year. Its subsidy had been due to fall from 60 per cent to 25 per cent. However, there is no extra cash. The government is seemingly forecasting less demand next year than anticipated, meaning its contribution will go further. Nick Brook, the chair of the DfE鈥檚 strategic tutoring advisory group, said it was 鈥渉ard to see鈥 how the six million target could be reached 鈥渨ithout substantial further investment鈥. The DfE did not deny the target had been dropped, and referred Schools Week to its 鈥渃ommitment to 拢1 billion in funding over the duration of the programme鈥. However, poor take-up means the full amount has not been spent. Schools Week reported earlier this year that an unspent 拢114 million was due to be clawed back by the Treasury for the past academic year alone. According to the BBC, the underspend on tutoring since the programme鈥檚 launch is now 拢209 million. Clawed-back funding is ‘lost to education’ Brook said the 鈥渇undamental problem is that there was a four-year objective to deliver around six million programmes of tutoring that was calculated to need 拢1 billion of investment鈥. 鈥淵et [the Treasury] has clawed back over a fifth of that already, as unspent grant 鈥 money that is now lost to education and tutoring.鈥 shows schools will receive the same amounts they were due to receive had the government subsidy fallen to 25 per cent 鈥 but will have to contribute less from their own budgets to use the funding. Mainstream schools will receive a minimum of 拢67.50 per pupil-premium eligible child, while special schools will get at least 拢176.25. However, these rates are less than half of what was paid this year, when mainstream schools got 拢162 and special schools 拢423 per eligible pupil. By doubling the planned subsidy while giving schools the same amount of money, the government has effectively halved the number of sessions that can be funded next year. Ministers now predict a million courses will be paid-for in 2023-24. Brook said he hoped that 鈥渋n raising the subsidy, less money will be returned to the Treasury next year鈥. But he added: 鈥淟et鈥檚 not fool ourselves though into believing that two million programmes would have been delivered next year, had the subsidy reduced to 25 per cent. 鈥淚ndications from schools are that tutoring numbers would have collapsed. This was the right decision in the circumstances, but far from a perfect solution.鈥 Target was key success metric for ex-PM Despite long-standing problems with take-up of the scheme, politicians had remained bullish about its prospects. In a written statement last July, Boris Johnson cited the 鈥減rogramme to reach six million [courses] by 2024鈥. The former prime minister even referred to the target in his response to Rishi Sunak鈥檚 resignation as chancellor last summer, declaring that the government was 鈥渄elivering six million tutoring courses to help pupils catch up lost learning鈥. Nick Gibb And in October, a DfE blog post referred to 鈥渙ur target of starting six million tutoring courses by 2024鈥. Nick Gibb, the schools minister, said: 鈥淪ince its inception in 2020, we have continuously evolved the National Tutoring Programme to ensure it works for pupils and schools. 鈥淥ver three million courses have been started as a result and we remain committed to supporting schools to embed tutoring long term because we know the positive impact it can have on pupils.鈥 The latest DfE statistics show that 3,365,598 tutoring courses had been started as of the end of January. That included 2,215,386 in the 2021-22 academic year, meeting ministers鈥 initial target of two million starts for that year. The government has also urged schools to prioritise pupils for tutoring who are 鈥渂elow the expected standard or grade boundary in an applicable subject鈥. Among this group, schools should 鈥渇ocus on pupils who are below the expected standard or grade boundary in an applicable subject鈥. This means primary pupils needing support to meet the expected standard in SATs, and those predicted to get grades 3 or 4 at GCSE.