Rising number of students needing home tuition puts Swansea service under pressure

Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporter

The number of young people having home tuition in Swansea is rising and it’s becoming more expensive to provide the service, a meeting heard.

One councillor called on the council to stop using “predatory” agencies which supply staff.

The home tuition service helps 70 to 130 young people at any one time and doesn’t include those educated at home by their parents by choice.

The service received 175 referrals in 2024-25, demand is expected to keep increasing, and it’s predicted to overspend by 25% against the current budget, a council committee heard, although no figures were given.

The service used to mainly help learners with physical and medical needs but more and more referrals were now related to mental health needs, neuro-developmental conditions, and young people awaiting specialist placements.

“So for example we know that around half the current caseload would benefit from a mental health intervention which gives you an idea of the type of need,” said council officer Kate Phillips at a meeting of the education and skills service transformation committee.

This increasing complexity combined with staff recruitment issues and a reliance on part-time agency staff has prompted a review of the service to ensure young people’s were met while also putting it on a sustainable footing financially.

Home tuition takes place at two council buildings in the centre and north of Swansea as well as young people’s homes and Ms Phillips, head of the council’s vulnerable learner service, said work experience and placements were part of the offer. She spoke of three home-tutored young people who’d done very well after work experience at Swansea Market and with community projects.

She also stressed the council’s view was that children should be educated at mainstream school wherever possible.

Predatory agencies

Cllr Oliver James said his teacher father used to work for the home tuition service and called on the council to hire a certain number of staff rather than relying on “predatory” agencies which he said added 30-40% costs on top.

Cllr James claimed agencies made excuses not to provide the same teachers, which he said would provide consistency for learners. “If somebody is in for certain amount of days they have to be given a contract and that means the agency loses their income for that member of staff,” he said. Cllr James also described the home tuition service as fantastic.

Ms Phillips, who was nodding while he spoke, said the council would ideally like to have a small team of teachers on short-term or fixed-term contracts but the current overspending budget didn’t allow for that.

She said quantifying what it would cost not to provide home tuition was also important given that out-of-county residential placements with education could cost up to £15,000 per week.

Cllr Mike Durke said the service was an important safety net and he’d heard powerful and positive case studies firsthand at an event last month.

Referring to those benefiting from the home tuition service he said: “Imagine a young person, children, and young people in the most vulnerable of circumstances.”

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