Why local authorities should partner with Action Tutoring

Local authorities across the country share a vital priority: ensuring that a child’s socioeconomic background does not dictate their educational outcome. Yet, with post-pandemic learning gaps persisting and municipal budgets stretched thin, council education teams face a complex challenge. 

How can local authorities deliver targeted, high-impact support to under-resourced pupils in a way that is both evidence-based and financially sustainable?

The answer lies in strategic, co-funded collaboration. In Dorset, a successful partnership between Dorset Council and Action Tutoring demonstrates how local authority co-funding can transform pupil outcomes, raise Key Stage 2 (KS2) attainment, and deliver exceptional value for public funds.

Strategic alignment

Dorset Council’s overarching education strategy explicitly prioritises reducing educational disadvantage and closing attainment gaps for pupils facing disadvantage by the end of primary school. Recognising that small-group tutoring is one of the most effective, research-backed interventions available, the council sought an established delivery partner with a strong track record.

Action Tutoring stood out as having a great reputation for working with pupils from low-income backgrounds.

Sharon Peel, Education Challenge Lead at Dorset Council

Dorset Council initially co-funded a pilot across one middle and one secondary school. Following overwhelmingly positive feedback from headteachers and measurable progress among participating pupils, the council expanded its investment to co-fund programmes across seven high-disadvantage primary and middle schools in the region.

Maximising public funds through volunteer power

For council leaders accountable for public spending, cost-effectiveness is non-negotiable. Action Tutoring offers a unique financial model: by mobilising high-quality volunteer tutors and supplementing delivery through its own charity fundraising, Action Tutoring significantly lowers the cost per pupil for local authorities.

As Sharon Peel highlights, this model ensures children receive support from tutors passionate about educational equity while delivering “a quality service in the most cost-effective way.” Local authority funding is thus leveraged, stretching public investment further to reach more pupils who need it most.

Real impact

While quantitative data and termly progress tracking give councils confidence, the true test of any intervention is seen in the classroom. In Dorset, school leaders report marked increases in pupil motivation, classroom engagement, and emotional wellbeing.

The data below underscores some of the standout SATs outcomes achieved by pupils facing disadvantage across partner schools in the region:

Conifers Primary School

• Maths: Out of the 10 pupils tutored, 80% met expected SATs standards.
• English: Out of the 11 pupils tutored, 70% met expected SATs standards.

Holy Trinity Church of England VC Primary School & Community

• English: Out of the 20 pupils tutored, 70% met expected SATs standards.

The human stories behind the data illustrate this transformation:

• Building growth mindsets: Before tutoring, Year 6 pupil Joshua struggled with multi-step reasoning and fractions. Working step-by-step with his volunteer tutor built his confidence to the point where he now asks for harder questions, calling tutoring “the best bit of Year 6.”
• Unlocking subject mastery: Arianna, who previously felt nervous about maths and struggled with division and fractions, now finds fraction arithmetic “easy” after receiving targeted, patient support from her tutor.
• Measurable attainment gains: Kobie, a Year 6 pupil facing working memory challenges, gained 10 marks on his mock assessments and achieved a Greater Depth score in reading. Beyond academics, Kobie valued the genuine human connection with his tutor.

Partnering for future opportunity

When local authorities co-fund Action Tutoring, they are not simply purchasing an intervention – they are investing in a proven solution to close the attainment gap and drive social mobility.  The combination of structured curriculum resources, dedicated Programme Coordinators handling school logistics, and trained volunteer tutors creates a seamless, low-friction partner for councils and schools alike.

By collaborating with Action Tutoring, local authorities can bridge the literacy and numeracy gap, boost Key Stage attainment, and provide young people facing disadvantage with the confidence and qualifications needed to thrive.

As put by Julie McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Education Policy Institute:

“Burnham’s cabinet has inherited an ambitious commitment. This year’s ‘every child achieving and thriving’ white paper set the target of halving the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers by the time the current generation leaves secondary school.”

Let’s play our part at the local level so that nationally, education becomes fairer. 

Get in touch

Delivering directly to schools, we provide heavily subsidised, evidence-based small-group tutoring in English and maths specifically for disadvantaged pupils. If you’d like to find out more, or speak to us about a partnership opportunity, you can contact Alice Nelson, Director of Programmes, directly on a.nelson@actiontutoring.org.uk

Related content

How to make your donation go further with Gift Aid

In 2024-25, Gift Aid to UK charities was worth £1.88 billion. It’s a huge amount. BUT it could – and should – be even more! Every year, charities miss out on £560 million in unclaimed Gift Aid tax relief.

Gift Aid is one of the simplest and most effective ways to give to charity. It comes at no extra cost or effort to the donor. 

If you are a UK tax payer, you can make every £1 you give worth 25p more, under the Gift Aid scheme, as it allows Action Tutoring to reclaim tax you have already paid to HM Revenue on eligible donations. This means that you can make an even bigger difference to young people facing disadvantage at no extra cost or effort to you. 

Please refer to this link for more government guidance on Gift Aid eligibility and conditions.

Donating to Action Tutoring

It’s really easy to add Gift Aid to your Action Tutoring donation. Simply visit our Just Giving page. After you have entered your donation amount and confirmed that the donation is your own money, you will be asked to add Gift Aid and tick the box.

If you are donating via bank transfer, or have a direct debit with us and would like to add Gift Aid, it’s really simple. Just reach out to our Fundraising Coordinator, Sarah, on sarah.chandler@actiontutoring.org.uk, to ask for a Gift Aid Declaration form, which only takes a couple of minutes to fill out.

Higher rate taxpayers

With Gift Aid, basic-rate tax relief (20%) automatically boosts your donation, but higher-rate taxpayers (40% or 45%) can claim additional tax back through a Self-Assessment tax return or a tax code adjustment.

For example, a £10,000 donation becomes £12,500 to Action Tutoring with Gift Aid added. If you pay the 45% tax rate, you can personally reclaim the 25% difference between the basic rate and higher rate of tax, equalling £3,125. This effectively reduces your net cost to £6,875. Or you can choose to donate the tax relief to turn your generous £10,000 donation into a whopping £15,625!

Please note that Action Tutoring are not tax experts and cannot provide tax advice. Anyone considering claiming tax relief should check their tax position and consider seeking professional advice. 

Ticking the Gift Aid box takes seconds, and sustains our life-changing tutoring that teachers say “transforms what our most disadvantaged pupils believe is possible”. 

We want to say a huge thank you to all our generous donors who have already ticked the box, making their donation go further and supporting more pupils to unlock their potential.

Thank you for your donations and support!