Where has £27billion for poorer pupils gone?

A £27BILLION programme to boost the life chances of the nation's poorest children has failed to narrow the gap with their better-off classmates, a scathing report has warned.

- By David Williamson CHIEF POLITICAL COMMENTATOR

The academic standards of children from "poverty-stricken homes" lag just as far behind their more fortunate peers as when the "pupil premium" was launched 14 years ago, an analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) reveals.

Instead the money could have been used to fund "720 million hours of one-to-one tuition".

The pupil premium was championed by the Liberal Democrats when Nick Clegg went into coalition with the Conservatives.

It ensures schools in England receive extra cash for teaching youngsters from the poorest backgrounds and those in the care system.

But the CSJ claimed "the pupil premium has failed to have the desired effect". It warned the situation has got even worse since the pandemic, with the attainment gap widening in around half of schools.