Education catch-up boss quits government over lack of funding for schools

The education catch-up chief has resigned over the government’s ‘inadequate’ schools support package that ‘risks failing hundreds of thousands of pupils’.

Sir Kevan Collins said the £1.4 billion fund to help children catch up on missed school time amid the pandemic ‘does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge’.

The education recovery commissioner, who was given the job just four months ago, said the package ‘betrays an undervaluation of the importance of education’.

Announcing his resignation, he said in a statement: ‘A half-hearted approach risks failing hundreds of thousands of pupils.

‘The support announced by Government so far does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge and is why I have no option but to resign from my post.’

His resignation comes after schools leaders branded the funding as ‘pitiful’.

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