Ministers have quietly shelved plans for a £100m online learning platform intended to form the centrepiece of Rishi Sunak’s push to improve adult numeracy.
The prime minister has made improving the nation’s maths skills a personal mission. While chancellor in 2021, he announced £560m of funding for Multiply, a numeracy scheme for adults.
At the heart of the UK-wide project was an online service that would allow learners to access tutoring directly. When Multiply was first announced, the Department for Education said: “A new digital platform, to be launched next year [2022], will give you access to numeracy training on demand, at your own pace, to build your confidence and boost your skills.”
But the DfE now concedes that plans for this digital platform, which it previously described as a “critical pillar” of Multiply, are on hold.
Stephen Morgan, the shadow schools minister, said: “This shows the prime minister’s focus on maths is nothing but empty rhetoric. The plan is an unworkable distraction from the government’s existing failure to recruit and retain maths teachers across the country.”
