Best Software for Education Charities in the UK (2026)

Education charities need software that tracks learner journeys, manages volunteer tutors, evidences educational outcomes, and satisfies funder reporting requirements — without adding hours of administration. The right platform replaces disconnected spreadsheets and paper registers with a single system for attendance, programme management, outcome measurement, and impact reporting.

TL;DR: Education charities should look for software that combines learner tracking, attendance and session management, volunteer tutor coordination (including DBS checks), outcome measurement tools (pre/post assessments, distance-travelled), safeguarding features, and funder reporting. Purpose-built charity platforms outperform generic CRMs because they understand education-specific workflows like cohort management, term-based scheduling, and attainment tracking. Plinth offers a comprehensive platform covering Case Management, Bookings, Volunteering, Surveys, and Impact Reporting — all designed for UK charities.

Who this is for: Education charity managers, programme directors, literacy charity leads, training provider managers, supplementary school coordinators, and trustees evaluating CRM or case management software for their organisation.

The Education Charity Sector in 2026

Education charities are working to close a widening gap. In 2024, just 46% of disadvantaged pupils met expected standards in reading, writing and maths at primary level, compared to 67% of non-disadvantaged pupils — the widest the attainment gap has been in 12 years. At secondary level, only 43% of disadvantaged pupils passed both English and maths GCSE, compared to 73% of their peers. These figures underline the continued need for charitable intervention in education.

The scale of the sector is substantial. Around 170,000 charities sit on the Charity Commission Register, with education and training among the most active registration categories — 1,560 new education or training charities were registered in 2024 alone. The UK charity sector as a whole has grown to an estimated £87.3 billion in revenue in 2025, with a 4.2% increase projected for 2026. Charity Commission applications reached a record 9,840 in the year to March 2025, a 9% increase on the previous year, reflecting growing demand across the sector.

For education charities specifically, the evidence base for intervention is strong. Research from the Education Endowment Foundation shows that small group tuition delivers an average of four months' additional progress over an academic year. Action Tutoring's 2023-24 impact report found that over 60% of disadvantaged GCSE pupils passed their tutored subject, with 5,743 pupils receiving more than 58,880 hours of volunteer-led tutoring across 146 schools. The government's Better Futures Fund — a £500 million initiative launched in 2025 — aims to support up to 200,000 vulnerable children and their families over ten years, signalling sustained public investment in the space.

Against this backdrop, education charities face a familiar challenge: proving impact to funders while managing complex, multi-site programmes with limited resources. Software that streamlines administration and evidences outcomes is essential.

What Education Charities Need from Software

Education charities span a wide range of activity types — one-to-one tutoring, literacy programmes, supplementary schools, STEM workshops, mentoring schemes, after-school clubs, and vocational training. Despite this diversity, they share a core set of software requirements that generic business tools struggle to meet.

Learner Tracking and Case Management

Every learner has a journey. Whether a child receiving weekly reading support or an adult attending employability training, education charities need to track individuals over time — recording assessments, attendance, milestones, and outcomes. A structured case management approach lets programme teams see the full picture for each learner, identify those at risk of disengaging, and evidence progress. With nearly 946,000 young people aged 16 to 24 classified as NEET in 2025, early identification of disengagement is critical.

Attendance and Session Management

Education programmes are typically session-based and term-structured. Whether it is a weekly phonics group, a Saturday maths club, or a six-week coding bootcamp, charities need to record who attended each session, track attendance patterns, and manage capacity. Attendance data feeds directly into funder reports and helps organisations understand engagement and retention rates.

Volunteer Tutor and Mentor Management

Many education charities depend on volunteers. Action Tutoring, for example, deployed 1,743 volunteers in a single academic year. Managing volunteer recruitment, DBS checks, training completion, availability, and matching to learners or sessions requires dedicated functionality. A simple contacts list is not sufficient — charities need role-specific records, compliance tracking, and scheduling tools.

Outcome Measurement and Assessment

Funders expect evidence of educational attainment, not just activity counts. Education charities measure outcomes such as reading age improvement, confidence gains, qualification attainment, and progression into further education or employment. This requires pre/post assessments, validated questionnaires, and distance-travelled tools that capture both hard and soft outcomes. The ability to aggregate results across cohorts and programmes is essential for demonstrating impact at scale.

Safeguarding and Compliance

Education charities work with children, young people, and vulnerable adults. Safeguarding is non-negotiable. Software must support DBS check tracking for all staff and volunteers, concern flagging and escalation, restricted access to sensitive information, and a clear audit trail. Paper-based safeguarding records introduce risk; digital systems with proper access controls reduce it.

Funder Reporting

Education charities commonly receive funding from multiple sources — local authorities, the Department for Education, trusts and foundations, national lottery distributors, and corporate partners — each with different reporting formats and timescales. Software that generates reports segmented by funder, programme, cohort, and time period saves significant administrative time. With 77% of charities seeing income grow or remain stable in the past year, effective impact reporting is key to sustaining that funding.

How Plinth Supports Education Charities

Plinth is a purpose-built platform for UK charities that brings together the tools education organisations need in a single, integrated system.

Case Management for Learner Journeys

Track learners through programmes, pathways, and outcomes. Create individual cases, assign key workers or lead tutors, record interactions and session notes, set concern levels, and monitor progress over time. Pathway management lets you define structured learning journeys — such as a twelve-week literacy programme or a term of maths tutoring — while maintaining flexibility for individual circumstances. AI-assisted case notes reduce the time staff spend on administration. Learn more about Case Management

Bookings for Classes and Sessions

Manage session bookings for tutoring, workshops, supplementary school classes, and holiday programmes. Online registration, capacity management, and waitlists reduce the administrative burden on your team. Parents, learners, or referring organisations can book directly, cutting down phone calls and emails. Term-based scheduling and recurring sessions fit the way education charities actually operate. Learn more about Bookings

Volunteering for Tutor and Mentor Management

Recruit, onboard, and manage volunteer tutors and mentors with dedicated tools. Track DBS checks and renewal dates, log training completion, manage availability, and match volunteers to learners or sessions based on skills and location. With education charities deploying hundreds or thousands of volunteers each year, robust volunteer management is essential for compliance and quality. Learn more about Volunteering

Surveys for Pre/Post Assessments

Design and deploy pre- and post-programme assessments, confidence questionnaires, and feedback forms. Surveys link directly to learner cases, so results feed into individual progress records and aggregate outcome reports. This supports distance-travelled measurement and provides the quantitative evidence funders require. Learn more about Surveys

Impact Reporting

Generate funder-ready reports that pull together attendance data, outcome measurements, survey results, and case data. Filter by programme, funder, cohort, time period, or demographic. Plinth's reporting tools are designed around the way UK charities actually need to report — no more spending days compiling spreadsheets before a funder deadline. Learn more about Impact Reporting

Comparing Software Options for Education Charities

Upshot

Upshot is a monitoring and evaluation platform that originated within the Football Foundation and became a standalone social enterprise in 2021. It supports over 1,400 organisations and focuses on tracking participant attendance, outcomes, and programme performance. Its strength is in impact measurement and funder reporting, particularly for organisations running activity-based programmes. However, it lacks built-in booking, volunteer management, and safeguarding tools, which means education charities would need additional systems alongside it.

Lamplight

Lamplight is a UK charity CRM that provides case management, outcomes tracking, and reporting. It is well-suited to organisations that need detailed work records and referral tracking. However, its booking and volunteer management capabilities are more limited, and the interface can require a steeper learning curve for less technical teams.

Charitylog

Charitylog is one of the longest-established charity CRMs in the UK, used by tens of thousands of people. It offers an annual fee with unlimited users, which suits organisations watching their budgets. Its core strength is contact and case management, but its functionality for session booking, volunteer management, and outcome measurement is more basic than purpose-built alternatives.

Salesforce

Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud is a powerful CRM platform, but it requires significant configuration (and often a specialist consultant) to work for education charities. Per-user licensing costs can escalate quickly for organisations with many staff and volunteers. It suits larger organisations with dedicated IT resources but is typically over-engineered for small to medium education charities.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best CRM for education charities in the UK?

The best CRM depends on your organisation's size and needs. For education charities that need learner tracking, session booking, volunteer management, and impact reporting in a single system, Plinth is the most comprehensive purpose-built option. Charitylog and Lamplight are solid alternatives for organisations primarily focused on case management. Salesforce suits larger organisations with IT capacity and budget for customisation.

How do education charities measure outcomes?

Education charities typically measure outcomes through pre/post assessments (such as reading age tests or maths diagnostics), validated questionnaires for soft outcomes (confidence, motivation, wellbeing), attendance and completion rates, and progression data (attainment, further education or employment outcomes). The Education Endowment Foundation's evidence base shows that small group tuition delivers an average of four months' additional progress — so demonstrating this kind of impact requires robust data collection at the learner level.

Do education charities need safeguarding software?

Yes. Any charity working with children, young people, or vulnerable adults has a legal and moral obligation to maintain safeguarding records. This includes DBS check tracking for all staff and volunteers, concern flagging and escalation procedures, restricted access to sensitive data, and a clear audit trail. Digital safeguarding tools reduce the risk associated with paper-based systems and ensure compliance is maintained consistently, especially as organisations scale.

Can volunteer tutors use the software directly?

This depends on the platform. Plinth allows volunteer access with appropriate role-based permissions, so tutors can view their schedules, log attendance, and record session notes without accessing sensitive learner data. This reduces the administrative load on paid staff while maintaining data protection standards.

Recommended Next Pages

• Case Management Software for Charities — A broader guide to choosing case management tools across the charity sector.
• Volunteer Management Software — How to manage volunteer recruitment, DBS tracking, and scheduling effectively.
• Impact Reporting — Tools and approaches for evidencing and reporting your charity's impact.
• CRM for Charities — A general comparison of CRM platforms available to UK charities.
• Software for Youth Charities — A companion guide for organisations focused on youth work and young people's services.

Last updated: February 2026 Running education programmes? Book a demo or contact our team.