CUTTING the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) will create a “ticking timebomb” for social mobility amid a widening pupil attainment gap, teaching experts will warn today.

The Sutton Trust and National Education Union (NEU) have urged ministers not to axe the subsidy in next month’s Spring Budget.

Their warnings come after disparities between those accepted into university grew to levels last seen a decade ago in the first year since the return to pre-pandemic marking last summer.