More than one in four secondary school pupils use a private tutor to help them, according to new research – but poorer families are significantly less likely to seek help than wealthier ones.

A report by social mobility charity the Sutton Trust shows 27% of 2,800 secondary school age children – 11 to 16-year-olds – said they had had private tuition.

This proportion is up compared with 18% who said the same in 2005, but is down slightly from a peak of 30% in 2017.

The report comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to give schools £14bn over three years, to “level up” education.

A breakdown of the research shows that 34% of those considered to be from a wealthier background said they had had private tuition, compared with 20% of children from poorer backgrounds.

The north-south divide is prevalent too, with more pupils from London having tutors than anywhere else in England.

Pupils from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME) were twice as likely to have had private tutoring (42%) compared with those from a white background (22%).

The study also showed almost a quarter (24%) of secondary school teachers have started offering tuition over the last two years.

The Sutton Trust is calling for a means-tested voucher scheme to help lower income families have access to private tuition for their children.

The charity adds that small group or one-to-one is a cost-effective way to increase the achievement of pupils, and say that schools should think about using their pupil premium funding (money given to schools to help those from poorer backgrounds) to pay for it.

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Sir Peter Lampl, Sutton Trust founder and chairman, said: “Private tuition is widespread – 27% of teenagers have been tutored rising to 41% in London. A quarter of teachers have provided tutoring.

“With costs of at least £25 per session, many parents can’t afford it.

“The government should look at introducing a means-tested voucher scheme to enable lower income families to provide tuition for their children.

“Schools should also consider the implications of teachers offering paid tuition outside of lessons and how this is promoted in school.”

Responding to the findings, a Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We have invested an extra £2.4bn this year alone through the Pupil Premium and schools have flexibility over how they use this funding, which can include providing one-to-one or small group tuition to ensure disadvantaged pupils get the extra support they need.

“While we believe families shouldn’t have to pay for private tuition – and with standards rising in schools we believe in most cases private tuition to be unnecessary – it has always been part of the system and parents have freedom to do this.”

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