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Report states social inequality 'entrenched'


The Social Mobility Commission has released a report this week which shows a worrying ‘stagnation’ in social inequality over the last four years.

From early childhood, to teens and working adults, there remains a wide gap between people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and those born into privilege when it comes to working in professional jobs, accessing high-quality education and training, and earning a living wage, and it doesn’t seem to be narrowing anytime soon.

Amongst other findings, the 2018-19 report places emphasis on giving children and young people a better start, highlighting the current link between poverty and lower attainment at school, stating:


  • by age 6 there is a 14 per cent gap in phonics attainment between children entitled to free school meals and those more advantaged
  • by age 7 the gap has widened to 18 per cent in reading, 20 per cent in writing and 18 per cent in mathematics
  • only 16 per cent of pupils on free school meals attain at least 2 A levels by age 19, compared to 39 per cent of all other pupils

    • Even when it comes to working age, people coming from lower income families may face all kinds of barriers to social mobility, including the means to move regions to access more employment opportunities – people from a middle-class background are 70 per cent more likely to move for a job, and three times more likely to move to London.

    Naturally, having less to live on results in huge health inequalities too: 500,000 more children are in poverty since 2012, leaving them with poorer health and wellbeing when they are just getting started in life.

    NHS Scotland has recently made the recommendation that health inequalities can only be effectively tackled by addressing income and wealth inequality via the tax and benefits system.

    How to redress the balance?

    The commission recommends the government redress this balance at every stage of a person’s life, including:

     

  • extending the eligibility of the 30-hour childcare offer by lowering the lower income limit of eligibility to those earning the equivalent of 8 hours per week
  • reassessing the ‘pupil premium’ funding for schools, and whether different levels of funding might benefit those with long-term disadvantage
  • Introducing a student premium for disadvantaged students aged 16 to 19 that’s based on the pupil premium model
  • the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS should develop a system which displays all financial support (bursaries, scholarships and ad-hoc funds) available to undergraduates alongside their eligibility criteria
  • investment in the skills, jobs and infrastructure in areas of low social mobility and low pay by the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Department for Education.

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    Image by Naomi Green by WELSTech is licensed under CC CC0 1.0.



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