tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/social-mobility-and-child-poverty-commission-10919/articlesSocial Mobility and Child Poverty Commission – The Conversation2016-10-20T12:15:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/673272016-10-20T12:15:37Z2016-10-20T12:15:37ZBritain’s great meritocracy gap – why businesses must widen their talent pool<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142496/original/image-20161020-8828-cjecc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C635%2C4004%2C3212&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Britain’s new prime minister has put meritocracy <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/britain-the-great-meritocracy-prime-ministers-speech">at the heart of her government’s agenda</a>. It’s a noble goal. This idea of allowing those with the most talent to rise to the top of society and occupy the best jobs must surely be good for society. Similarly, attracting and promoting the best talent has to be good for business.</p>
<p>Rising <a href="https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/wealth-tracker-2016">wealth inequality</a>, however, suggests that the UK has a long way to go to becoming a meritocratic society. If Theresa May wants to make Britain a place where people have “the chance to go as far as their talents will take them”, businesses need to look very carefully at how they recruit and select their future leaders. </p>
<p>Recent research we’ve worked on for the government’s Social Mobility Commission, into the workings of professions such as <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/434791/A_qualitative_evaluation_of_non-educational_barriers_to_the_elite_professions.pdf">law, accounting</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/549994/Socio-economic_diversity_in_life_sciences_and_investment_banking.pdf">investment banking</a> in the City of London suggests that the way meritocracy is discussed can actually curtail opportunities for social mobility. The findings show that new, more formal recruitment techniques offer the illusion that the City is “<a href="http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/forget-brown-shoes-investment-banks-fiercely-meritocratic/any-other-business/article/1407668#z87QqdbdxugUyAir.991">fiercely meritocratic</a>”. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142490/original/image-20161020-8869-4w3piu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142490/original/image-20161020-8869-4w3piu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142490/original/image-20161020-8869-4w3piu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142490/original/image-20161020-8869-4w3piu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142490/original/image-20161020-8869-4w3piu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142490/original/image-20161020-8869-4w3piu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142490/original/image-20161020-8869-4w3piu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142490/original/image-20161020-8869-4w3piu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Theresa May has made the case for meritocracy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/29457570052/in/dateposted/">Number 10</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Yet it remains significantly more difficult for hard-working, talented people from lower socio-economic groups to gain access to these top jobs, compared to their more privileged peers. In particular, there is a disproportionate number of people working in the elite professions who have been privately educated. Research by social mobility charity <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/pathways-banking/">the Sutton Trust</a>
recently found that while 7% of the general population attends a fee-paying school, 34% of new entrants to the banking sector were privately educated, rising to 69% of those working in private equity.</p>
<h2>Appearances can be deceptive</h2>
<p>Organisations certainly cannot be blamed for looking to recruit the most talented students to work for them and in many ways the recruitment and selection processes adopted by elite firms appear to be meritocratic and fair – everyone is judged by the same yardstick. The difficulty arises when trying to assess what is meant by talent. </p>
<p>Elite professions largely equate talent with good A-Level grades and a degree from a narrow range of the “top” universities. At first glance, pre-screening of applicants based on A-Level results may seem a fair way of dealing with large numbers of recruits. But A-Level performance is <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-mobility-why-does-private-school-give-you-such-a-leg-up-45739">strongly correlated with social background</a>, which serves to disadvantage certain groups. Similarly, focusing on students who have gained degrees at elite universities might appear sensible, but those universities are themselves more likely to recruit students <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30939926">from privileged backgrounds</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142498/original/image-20161020-8852-1gnpqu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142498/original/image-20161020-8852-1gnpqu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142498/original/image-20161020-8852-1gnpqu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142498/original/image-20161020-8852-1gnpqu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142498/original/image-20161020-8852-1gnpqu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142498/original/image-20161020-8852-1gnpqu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142498/original/image-20161020-8852-1gnpqu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Privilege persists throughout education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>Less objective aspects of the recruitment process can further disadvantage those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. For example, final stage interviews with senior staff are often used to judge whether the applicant would fit into the firm. We were told repeatedly in interviews we conducted with staff across law, accounting and investment banking how important it is that candidates are “polished” and give off the “right” impression. </p>
<p>This may seem logical in a competitive, client-facing environment, but, as our interviewees explained, applicants who have the necessary intellect and aptitude can be rejected purely because they are wearing the “wrong” tie. Plus, an increasingly early start to the recruitment cycle involves applying for internships either before or in the first year of university study. This means that if applicants lack the social networks which provide knowledge about opportunities they are likely to miss out. Thus, the status quo is maintained and it is difficult for those from less privileged backgrounds to access elite professions.</p>
<h2>Redefining talent</h2>
<p>So what can these firms do? Some are clearly working on this and the increase in apprenticeships and post-18 entrance schemes in accounting has been one response. Other leading firms have introduced the use of <a href="http://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/press-releases/articles/largest-british-business-to-adopt-contextualised-recruitment.html">contextual data</a>, which allows them to see how applicants compare to peers at their school, to help them judge A-Level results. And many firms engage with third sector organisations such as the Sutton Trust and the Social Mobility Foundation to offer outreach programmes and work experience. These have been successful up to a point, yet change appears slow. </p>
<p>In order to facilitate further change it is important that firms measure and monitor the social background of both new recruits and current employees; examine all aspects of how they attract and select applicants and consider ring-fencing opportunities for internships from non-traditional candidates. </p>
<p>They should also think critically about how they define merit. Should a candidate’s background be taken into account when making judgements about how they present themselves? If Britain is to be the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/britain-the-great-meritocracy-prime-ministers-speech">“world’s great meritocracy”</a>, firms need to focus on selecting applicants on the basis of their potential to develop the attributes of a good professional, not the polish that comes with a more privileged background.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67327/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne Duberley received funding from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission to undertake the research upon which this article is based. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Ashley received funding from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission to undertake the research upon which this article is based. </span></em></p>Research shows that the way meritocracy is discussed can actually curtail opportunities for social mobility.Joanne Duberley, Professor of Organisation Studies, University of BirminghamLouise Ashley, Lecturer in Organization Studies, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/460462015-08-19T05:34:26Z2015-08-19T05:34:26ZUniversities remain a hive of inequality – they must do more to attract the excluded<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91649/original/image-20150812-12348-94s6iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fair access and widening participation are a social and economic necessity. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> J. Henning Buchholz/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The higher education sector in England has gone through some major changes in recent years, from the 2012 rise in tuition fees to £9,000 a year to the more recent decision to allow universities to <a href="http://theconversation.com/now-universities-can-accept-as-many-students-as-they-want-will-there-be-a-free-for-all-in-clearing-45633">accept as many students as they want</a>. Constant policy shifts have kept universities on the move.</p>
<p>One theme that has continued to be a consistent priority throughout these changes has been how to make access to university more equal and fair. I think that now, more then ever, universities need to do more to attract potential applicants from poorer and more diverse backgrounds. </p>
<p>No matter what your political affiliation, all party leaders say that education is a fundamental driver of social mobility. And, in recent years, social mobility through education has been improving. According <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/365765/State_of_Nation_2014_Main_Report.pdf">to figures from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission</a> (SMCP), headed by my former ministerial colleague, Alan Milburn, a record number of young English people are entering higher education. This year, there <a href="https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/over-409000-students-already-placed-uk-higher-education-%E2%80%93-3">was a 4% increase</a> in students from the least advantaged backgrounds being placed at UK universities on A-level results day, according to UCAS.</p>
<p>In addition, universities are investing <a href="https://www.offa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Access-agreements-for-2015-16-key-statistics-and-analysis.pdf">£735m</a> in 2015-16 to widen access by providing support such as bursaries. The SMCP <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/365765/State_of_Nation_2014_Main_Report.pdf">estimates</a> there could be as many as 100,000 more university places and 2m new professional jobs created by 2020, creating even more opportunities. </p>
<p>Businesses and the private sector are also entering the debate on access and diversity. Global accountancy firm <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/ey-firm-says-it-will-not-longer-consider-degrees-or-alevel-results-when-assessing-employees-10436355.html">EY is removing the requirement for a minimum degree classification</a> for graduates and hiding all details of schools and universities from recruiters. EY says the aim is to boost workplace diversity, which it sees as good for business.</p>
<h2>Inequality remains</h2>
<p>But, despite all this positive action and debate, the higher education sector remains a hive of inequality. The controversial decision by the chancellor, George Osborne, to <a href="https://theconversation.com/abolishing-student-grants-and-raising-fees-above-9-000-heaps-more-debt-on-poorest-students-44485">convert maintenance grants to loans</a> is no doubt a backwards step. It affects the poorest in society and risks deterring them from university. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jul/30/poorer-students-say-maintenance-grants-essential-for-university">Recent research from the National Union of Students</a> shows that students from poorer backgrounds <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comment/opinion/why-maintenance-matters-more-than-tuition-fees/2020022.article">need maintenance support the most</a>. </p>
<p>Such grants have also been one of the most important contributing factors in encouraging students from ethnic minorities and low-income <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/365765/State_of_Nation_2014_Main_Report.pdf">families to apply for university</a>. </p>
<p>Universities must help redress the balance. Financial support is just one aspect, but it is an important one. A robust scheme of grants and bursaries is certainly needed, tailored specifically for those coming from lower socio-economics backgrounds that are still underrepresented across the higher education sector. And more expenditure by universities on outreach is necessary, together with more paid internships. </p>
<p>But financial support alone isn’t the only way universities need to tackle the problem of inequality and diversity. Institutions need to adopt an interdisciplinary approach towards improving access for disadvantaged students and reaching out to them. As a sector, we need to consider and incorporate ideas around teaching and learning, marketing and recruitment and the wider student experience. This includes thinking about how these issues affect students from different socio-economic backgrounds, and about what can be done to help attract them into higher education and nurture and support them once they arrive. </p>
<h2>Ready to teach soft skills</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/private-pay-progression/">A recent study by the Sutton Trust</a> charity demonstrated that privately educated UK graduates in high-status jobs earn more than their state school counterparts. It found factors such as the university attended and quality of education were prevalent, but it also suggested non-academic factors and soft skills, such as assertiveness, confidence and presentation skills also had a significant impact. </p>
<p>This is something that universities across the sector need to address. They should investigate how they can help students from more diverse backgrounds develop such skills that will not only benefit them during their studies but once they graduate as well. </p>
<p>University has to appeal to everyone who feels excluded. Ethnicity and socio-economic factors are key issues, but children who have grown up in care, disabled learners, first-generation scholars and mature learners all need to be included in any debate about “widening participation”.</p>
<p>The gender divide also matters. UCAS <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/21/gender-gap-university-admissions-record">figures</a> show the admissions gap between men and women in the sector is growing and at record levels. More women than men are being accepted to university than ever before and it has become as significant as the gap between people from advantaged and disadvantaged economic backgrounds. And it combines in the acute challenge we face around the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmeduc/142/142.pdf">poor educational achievements</a> of white, working-class boys.</p>
<h2>The sector must collaborate</h2>
<p>But the most fundamental issue we need to face as a sector is collaboration. The policy and structural changes from government promote competition, so too often universities are working in a silo with regards to inequality and diversity. </p>
<p>Collaboration could take place through regional coordination among universities, colleges and schools to ensure an optimal spread and intensity of outreach activities and events, especially during the early years where interventions can have the highest impact. Universities can also collaborate in sharing insight on how best to recruit, support and ensure the success of less-advantaged students. That means investing in the professional development of the university staff who are working to help widen participation in order to ensure that the sector’s collective understanding grows. </p>
<p>Ultimately, while we might be <a href="https://theconversation.com/now-universities-can-accept-as-many-students-as-they-want-will-there-be-a-free-for-all-in-clearing-45633">in competition</a> for students, celebrating the impact of higher education in transforming lives, improving social mobility and contributing to the economy is something we can all agree on.</p>
<p>To improve fair access across higher education, we must work together by sharing best practice, sharing ideas and, most importantly, sharing responsibility.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Rammell is a member of the Labour Party and was Minister of State for Higher Education between 2005 and 2008. </span></em></p>The higher education sector must collaborate to reach out to applicants from poor and diverse backgrounds.Bill Rammell, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive, University of BedfordshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/454732015-08-17T05:33:01Z2015-08-17T05:33:01ZWhy British universities should rethink selecting students by academic ability<p>Britain’s university entrance system, in which students are selected based on their academic grades, is the main reason why efforts to widen access to higher education beyond the country’s upper and middle classes have had only modest success. In England, 18-year-olds from the most advantaged areas are <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Analysis/HE,in,England/HE_in_England_2015.pdf">still three times more likely</a> to enter higher education than those from the most disadvantaged areas. Unless the current selection process is abolished, universities will continue to create unequal opportunities and drive social inequality.</p>
<p>Jobs with prestigious law and accountancy firms are dominated by graduates from very selective Russell Group universities, according to a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/434791/A_qualitative_evaluation_of_non-educational_barriers_to_the_elite_professions.pdf">recent report</a> from the UK’s Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (SMCP). The report’s authors argue that a stratified higher education system is filtering privileged access to these highly remunerated careers. This perpetuates future unequal access by the children of these high flyers to private schools or state schools in “good areas” that feed highly selective universities.</p>
<p>Elite, highly-selective universities, such as the Russell Group, may claim to be <a href="http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/russell-group-latest-news/155-2014/8563-the-economic-impact-of-russell-group-universities/">engines of economic growth</a>, but their role as engines of inequality compromises this claim.</p>
<h2>Problems started post-war</h2>
<p>The roots of this problem lie in how higher education grew after 1945. Expansion was needed for economic recovery after World War II, but existing universities were reluctant to grow if this meant providing vocational courses. Instead, places were expanded in regional technical colleges, institutions that had developed from mechanics institutes and trade schools for local students who could not afford to go to a university. </p>
<p>Starting in 1956, a select group of these were designated as Colleges of Advanced Technology with national intakes. This prefigured the wave of polytechnics created at the end of the 1960s, later <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/sep/03/polytechnics-became-universities-1992-differentiation">granted university status</a> in 1992, among them my own institution, Middlesex University. </p>
<p>As Eric Robinson wrote in his 1968 book, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_New_Polytechnics.html?id=JfIUAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">The New Polytechnics</a>, this was potentially the start of a new vision for higher education based on open entry and lifelong learning rather than selection at entry and just full-time degree study. Robinson wanted the polytechnics to pioneer comprehensive higher education. But this did not happen. Only The Open University, established in 1969 as a distance learning institution, adopted a policy of no academic selection on entry, which <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/do-it">still stands</a>. </p>
<p>Until 1945 university entry often only required six passes at GCE O level – the secondary school leaving exam. But over subsequent decades tough academic selection came to be seen as a hallmark of quality. Paradoxically, academic selection in secondary education, using the 11-plus exam in the last year of primary education to determine entry to grammar schools, came to be seen as flawed and unfair. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015">About 90% of pupils</a> now attend comprehensive schools, compared to 8%, mostly part-time students, in what might be described as comprehensive higher education offered at the Open University. </p>
<h2>A divided system</h2>
<p>In effect, a divide continues between “teaching universities” (predominantly the ex-polytechnics) for students disproportionately from low-income households and “research universities” for students from affluent backgrounds – from which the firms in the SMCP’s study recruit. </p>
<p>This polarisation has been seen as an issue by successive governments but only in respect of attempting to increase the number of high-attaining students from low-income backgrounds studying in the very selective research universities. The low number of students from affluent backgrounds in many of the ex-polytechnics receives no policy attention. </p>
<p>Academic selection filters young people into segregated working and social lives but all students may be missing out by being educated in a class-divided system. The evidence that <a href="https://www.routledge.com/products/9780750706209">helped end mass academic selection</a> in secondary education, acted on by Labour phasing our grammar schools following its 1964 general election victory and continued by subsequent Conservative governments, could also be applied to higher education. This evidence suggests that having a mix in terms of both prior attainment and social intake could benefit overall academic results, attendance and course completion rates. </p>
<p>The result would not just be a more inclusive society but a society with higher productivity and economic growth. The government’s recent decision to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25236341">end student number controls</a> in England – allowing universities to accept as many students as they want – is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be complemented by opening up higher education by reforming academic selection.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">We need to mix students up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucky Business/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<h2>Is abandoning academic selection practical?</h2>
<p>Just banning academic selection would be difficult: there is likely to be little consensus about alternative recruitment methods, especially in the absence of university catchment areas. But there are steps that could be taken. </p>
<p>Building on the foundation programmes already run by many universities, courses could be required to have entry pathways with two or more entry requirement levels. There could be quotas for the number of students with each of these different levels of prior attainment. They would start at different points depending on their entry pathway and exit at different points such as an honours degree or master’s – but always spend a large part of their course together. </p>
<p>Scholarships could be made available for applicants with high prior attainment who choose to study in non-elite universities where these students are under-represented. This could be funded by a levy on highly selective institutions that would reduce as the policy starts having an impact. </p>
<p>And to end biased perceptions that some universities are better than others that are driven largely by how selective they are, government could legislate for academic credit earned in one university to be transferable to any other, as long as institutions meet quality assurance expectations.</p>
<p>Without tackling the issue of academic selection in higher education, universities are likely to remain part of the problem of inequality and not part of the solution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45473/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Blackman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By basing their admissions systems on grades, universities are perpetuating social inequality.Tim Blackman, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy and Vice-Chancellor, Middlesex UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/332602014-10-23T05:09:36Z2014-10-23T05:09:36ZParenting is not the key to tackling inequality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62410/original/zs3cc42g-1413911159.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Happy parenting won't necessarily get you into Oxbridge.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?safesearch=1&search_type=keyword_search&extra_html=1&lang=en&language=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&utm_source=sstkimages&utm_medium=onsite&utm_campaign=search&use_local_boost=1&searchterm=parents&show_color_wheel=1&media_type=images&page=1&sort_method=popular&inline=160939241">Parenting via Goodluz/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Britain is quickly turning into a nation characterised by an obscene and unsustainable wealth gap, according to a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/social-mobility-and-child-poverty-commission">new report on social mobility</a>. Yet behind the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s trenchant critique of current party-political strategies for tackling inequality and child poverty there lies a familiar scapegoat – parenting. </p>
<p>The report’s recommendations highlight parenting as the starting point from which to address the disparity between disadvantaged children and their more privileged peers. Its authors argue that politicians should overcome their timidity in calling out bad parenting and establish a national parenting campaign: “to help more parents become excellent parents”.</p>
<h2>Myth of effective parenting</h2>
<p>Beyond the rhetoric of supporting families and improving early years’ services lies a dubious reasoning that the minutiae of everyday interactions between parent and child is deeply significant and capable of overcoming structurally ingrained disadvantages. Effective parenting, the report claims, has a bigger influence on a child’s life than wealth, class or education.</p>
<p>This myth has peppered policy and practice literature for years, but its prevalence conceals a lack of sound evidence to back up such a startling claim. In fact, <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/parenting-family-policy-and-childrens-wellbeing-in-an-unequal-society-dimitra-hartas/?K=9780230354951">analysis of cohort studies</a> demonstrates that family income and maternal education have a greater impact on children’s outcomes such as educational attainment and well-being than any particular parenting styles.</p>
<h2>The schools aren’t ready</h2>
<p>The idea of “school readiness” is central to the Commission’s critique of parenting. It suggests that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are held back by their unpreparedness for education, a problem regarded as symptomatic of ineffective “home learning environments”. This echoes a similar concern <a href="http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/projects/marmot-indicators-2014">voiced in September</a> by public health expert Michael Marmot asserting that almost half of all five-year-olds are unready for school (two-thirds of whom are from low income households).</p>
<p>The claim attracted much publicity and provoked extensive consternation about the unmet need for parenting support. Few appeared to question why schools were apparently “unready” and unable to educate 50% of their Year 1 intake. </p>
<p>In response to the Marmot report a spokesman for the Department for Education was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29317098">quoted</a> as saying: “No child should start school behind their peers”. This revealed just how far understandings of education appear to have moved away from the aim of providing opportunities for all children regardless of their ability or background.</p>
<h2>Heckman equation</h2>
<p>While family has long been targeted as a site for political intervention, the contemporary obsession with parenting policy can be linked to a highly influential economic theory devised by the US Nobel laureate James Heckman. Arguing that human capital is cumulative rather than fixed, Heckman and colleagues proposed a formula summed up in the phrase “<a href="http://www.heckmanequation.org/content/resource/skills-beget-skills">skills beget skills and abilities beget abilities”</a>. </p>
<p>This economic reasoning, known as the “Heckman equation”, asserted that return on human capital was very high in the early years of life and diminished rapidly thereafter. This principle of investing early in a child’s life in order to maximise economic gains was placed at the heart of the New Labour government’s agenda at the end of the last century. Explicitly quoting Heckman’s work, Tony Blair concluded in 2006 that: “<a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20040105034004/http:/number10.gov.uk/page10037">more than anything else, early intervention is crucial if we are to tackle social exclusion</a>”.</p>
<p>The influence of the Heckman equation has been quite remarkable given it remains a purely economic prediction divorced from dialogue with actual research findings. <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/education/people/paul-a-howard-jones/pub/2883579">Attempts to tie the model to empirical evidence</a> have merely highlighted the complexity and unevenness of development from childhood to adulthood. </p>
<p>Yet the desire to ground the equation in facts perhaps partly explains recent <a href="http://www.discoversociety.org/2014/01/06/policy-briefing-the-biologisation-of-poverty-policy-and-practice-in-early-years-intervention/">misappropriations of neuroscience</a> used to justify policies of early years intervention.</p>
<h2>Middle-class advantage</h2>
<p>At a more basic level, the positioning of parenting as a solution to inequality draws on a simple model of investment, with no acknowledgement of the uneven territory and different access to resources that each family has. Middle-class parents can, do – and indeed are now quite explicitly encouraged to – mobilise their considerable resources to ensure their children come out on top. </p>
<p>Money can buy advantages such as extra tuition, educational equipment (ipads, computers, books) and outings, educational assessments and, above all, a house in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-third-of-wealthy-parents-have-moved-house-for-a-school-place-21592">good catchment area</a>. Middle-class parents are usually well-educated, academically confident and reasonably familiar with the expectations around which school curriculums are built. This means they are much better able to teach and steer their children towards success. </p>
<p>They also tend to have useful contacts in their social networks (teachers, academics, lawyers), for maximising educational attainment and securing access into important work-experience placements. And, more than ever, in a culture that equates poor parenting with poverty, the more privileged enjoy a level of respect from education professionals <a href="https://www.academia.edu/3549456/From_Baby_Brain_to_Conduct_Disorder_The_New_Determinism_in_the_Classroom">frequently denied to disadvantaged families.</a></p>
<h2>Parental arms race</h2>
<p>The relentless focus on parenting since the millennium can only have made inequality worse. It has precipitated a parental arms race, morally obliging the middle classes to use every advantage to stay ahead and it has legitimated an old-fashioned determinism that ties children’s life chances to their lineage.</p>
<p>If the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission are <a href="https://theconversation.com/act-now-on-social-mobility-or-britain-will-freewheel-into-a-permanently-divided-country-33200">serious about bridging the inequality chasm </a> they will need to address the polarisation of resources, not parenting skills.</p>
<hr>
<p>Next read: <a href="https://theconversation.com/blaming-working-class-parents-for-inequality-lets-our-rampantly-unequal-society-off-the-hook-29674">Blaming working class parents for inequality lets our rampantly unequal society off the hook</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33260/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Val Gillies receives funding from ESRC. She has also received funding from the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.</span></em></p>Britain is quickly turning into a nation characterised by an obscene and unsustainable wealth gap, according to a new report on social mobility. Yet behind the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s…Val Gillies, (From Dec 2014) Research Professor in Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/332002014-10-20T16:04:35Z2014-10-20T16:04:35ZAct now on social mobility, or Britain will freewheel into a permanently divided country<p>Although the broader economy might be starting to look up, the prospects for social mobility in the UK are not. The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission has just released its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/364979/State_of_the_Nation_Final.pdf">State of the Nation report for 2014</a>, and the outlook is not very sunny. </p>
<p>The report uses the mountain of research in this area to present a grim prediction of the possible future of social mobility in Britain. If dramatic steps are not taken, they say, Britain risks becoming a “permanently divided society”. This is a policy challenge for all parties ahead of the 2015 general election. </p>
<h2>Unrealised dream</h2>
<p>Over recent years, evidence has mounted on how true social mobility remains an unrealised dream in this country, with problems identified across the whole course of life. For young children, research from the Sutton Trust (where I also work as Research Fellow) has shown that children from disadvantaged homes are <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/baby-bonds-final.pdf">less likely to have secure attachment bonds with their parents</a>. These bonds are a strong predictor of healthy social and emotional development.</p>
<p>At five, when starting school, children from poorer homes are already <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/newsarchive/poorer-children-year-behind-start-school/">a year behind their more advantaged counterparts</a>. At 16, children from poorer backgrounds (measured by their eligibility for free school meals) are still a massive <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/group.pl?qtype=NAT&superview=sec&view=aat&set=5&sort=&ord=&tab=113&no=999&pg=1">27% less likely</a> to gain the benchmark five GCSEs at A<sup>*</sup> to C (including English and Maths). At 18, children from the most disadvantaged areas are <a href="http://www.independentcommissionfees.org.uk/wordpress/?page_id=47">almost ten times less likely to enter the most elite universities</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9380801&fileId=S0047279414000634">Recent research</a> also suggests that, if someone from a poorer background is lucky enough to get to university, their disadvantage persists even after graduation. Students from more advantaged backgrounds are significantly more likely to end up in professional careers.</p>
<h2>Targets and policies over rhetoric</h2>
<p>For many politicians, supporting social mobility is an easy political gambit. It’s an issue that commands almost universal public support, and allows for a lot of high-flown rhetoric. The more difficult question is what can actually be done legislatively.</p>
<p>The Commission offer 12 main recommendations, which are summarised <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/364980/Summary_State_of_the_Nation_2014.pdf">here</a>. Some of these are phrased as new social mobility targets – for example ensuring that 85% of children are ready for school at age five, or that 50% of children entitled to free school meals gain five good GCSEs. </p>
<p>But many represent specific policies which could be implemented directly. These include higher pay for teachers willing to teach in deprived areas, increased apprenticeship provision, and the banning of unpaid internships. The report itself also highlights the need to improve access to Russell Group universities, and drawing on <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/the-postgraduate-premium/">research from the London School of Economics for the Sutton Trust</a>, the importance of supporting postgraduate study with student loans.</p>
<h2>Policy groundwork achieved</h2>
<p>This focus on specific policies is the approach the Sutton Trust took with our <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/mobility-manifesto-2015/">Mobility Manifesto</a>, published in September. We identified ten policy directions that would make a real difference to social mobility. These included using <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ballots-and-banding-are-shaking-up-school-admissions-23688">ballots and banding</a> to make admissions to competitive state schools fairer, improving the use of evidence in schools to narrow the attainment gap and introducing a new body to improve universities’ outreach to disadvantaged students.</p>
<p>All this means there are good directions already mapped out for any incoming government – directions backed by good evidence and widespread agreement. But even where we might disagree, this can also be a positive drive for debate on specifics, rather than generalities. It means that we can focus on what actually needs to be done to turn the ship of social mobility around, rather than allowing the size and complexity of the issue freeze us into inaction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33200/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert de Vries works as a Research Fellow for The Sutton Trust.</span></em></p>Although the broader economy might be starting to look up, the prospects for social mobility in the UK are not. The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission has just released its State of the Nation…Robert de Vries, Associate fellow in Sociology, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/285602014-06-30T04:51:41Z2014-06-30T04:51:41ZBright, poor students less likely to get into elite universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52465/original/327grmp6-1403875311.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jump for joy but not always so high. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/centralsussexcollege/9517992502/sizes/l">Central Sussex College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Only 3% of able students from poorer backgrounds are likely to end up at an elite university, according to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smcpc-research-on-attainment-of-disadvantaged-children">new research</a> on the impact of education on social mobility. This is compared to 10% of students overall. But poorer students are actually getting into elite universities with lower A-level grades than their richer counterparts. </p>
<p>Education, particularly at university-level, is a major route to success in the labour market and is one of the main drivers of social mobility. It is essential we understand how to improve the chances of poor but able students attending higher education and specifically achieving access to the most high status universities.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smcpc-research-on-attainment-of-disadvantaged-children">research</a> funded by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, Claire Crawford at the University of Warwick, Lindsey Macmillan from the Institute of Education and I investigated the pathways that able children from different socio-economic backgrounds take on their route to higher education.</p>
<p>We focused on those poor children who, against the odds, succeeded in making their way into a high status university, building on research which has documented the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0335.t01-1-00272/abstract">stark socio-economic gaps in pupils’ achievement</a> at every stage. Previous <a href="http://onlinelibry.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2012.01043.x/abstract">research has also looked</a> at these issues on widening participation before, but not with the same data. </p>
<p>We defined high-status institutions as those in the Russell Group or with similarly strong research profiles, as measured by the Research Assessment Exercise. We used administrative data on a cohort of children born in 1991–92 and we were able to follow them through the education system into higher education.</p>
<h2>Falling behind on qualifications</h2>
<p>The socio-economic gaps in achievement are stark. Overall, around one in ten students attends a high status university, using our definition. By contrast just less than 3% of poor students who claimed free school meals throughout secondary school go to an elite university. </p>
<p>But this very large discrepancy is almost entirely explained by the fact that poorer students do not do as well as their richer counterparts throughout the education system and <a href="https://theconversation.com/gcse-attainment-crucial-for-widening-participation-in-higher-education-27752">fail to attain the necessary qualifications</a> at A level to access such institutions. </p>
<p>Earlier in the education system, only just under 9% of the most deprived children reach level 3 in both reading and maths at Key Stage 1. This is compared with 27% of the least deprived children. At Key Stage 2, 7% of those who always claim free school meals attain level 5 in English and maths, compared with 19% of those who do not always claim free school meals. </p>
<p>Our research also suggests that while high achieving children from well-off families continue on their high attainment trajectory throughout their education, equally able children from poorer families fall off this trajectory particularly between ages 11 and 16. </p>
<p>This results in fewer deprived children getting good grades at GCSE and continuing on to post-16 and higher education. We concluded that this means secondary schools have a vital role to play in protecting and enhancing the performance of all children who are high attainers at primary, particularly those from the most deprived backgrounds.</p>
<h2>Getting in with lower grades</h2>
<p>Poor students who do succeed in making it into a high status university actually have lower A level grades than their more advantaged peers who also attend such institutions. </p>
<p>Of those who enrol in an elite university, 47% of the most deprived children achieve at least three A or B grades at A level, compared with 73% of the least deprived children. This finding is only partially explained by the fact that poorer students tend to attend the less elite universities (that have lower grade requirements) within this group of higher status institutions. </p>
<p>There are two main explanations as to why poorer students in elite institutions have slightly lower A level grades. It may be that richer students exceed the university minimum A level grade requirement by more than poorer students, effectively over-shooting on what universities ask of them. </p>
<p>Alternatively, it may mean that some universities are taking account of students’ contexts when making grade offers: they may acknowledge that some students have more disadvantaged circumstances and so offer them lower grades. </p>
<p>Further research is needed to understand which of these explanations is more likely, but either way this implies that children from more deprived backgrounds can afford to be more ambitious and increase their rate of application to elite institutions. </p>
<p>It is therefore important that schools, universities and policymakers do everything they can to provide the support and advice poor students need to make applications to higher status universities: those with the top grades stand a good chance of getting in if they do apply. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28560/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Vignoles, Claire Crawford and Lindsey MacMillan received funding from The Commission for Social Mobility and Child Poverty for the underlying research.</span></em></p>Only 3% of able students from poorer backgrounds are likely to end up at an elite university, according to new research on the impact of education on social mobility. This is compared to 10% of students…Anna Vignoles, Professor of Education, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/277742014-06-11T04:37:57Z2014-06-11T04:37:57ZChild poverty targets will be missed, and austerity is to blame<p>The swingeing <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/commission-publishes-response-to-the-draft-child-poverty-strategy">report</a> of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission that the Child Poverty Act 2010 targets for 2020 cannot be met is no surprise. The commission was responding to the government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/302911/35696_Cm_8782_accessible.pdf">draft child poverty strategy</a>, which it described as “lamentable” – pointing out its failure to explain how to get from where we are to where we want to go.</p>
<p>The child poverty targets were to reduce the relative child poverty rate (children living in households with equivalent income less that 60% median) to 10% by 2020 and to reduce “absolute” child poverty to 5% by 2020. There are other targets for deprivation and low income, severe deprivation and low income and persistent poverty. </p>
<p>Curiously, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/households-below-average-income-hbai--2">latest data</a> still suggest that we are on trend to achieve the relative target. This may be why, in March 2014, Ian Duncan Smith told the Today programme child poverty was on target to fall to 1.3m by 2020. </p>
<p>But median income has been <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/household-income/middle-income-households/1977---2011-12/sty-middle-income-households.html">falling</a> for the last four years, and so the poverty threshold and the numbers of children below it have been falling – or at least not yet rising. The absolute child poverty rate only began to increase in 2011/12, the latest year for which we have data. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Landman Economics and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) have <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/318073/3b_Poverty_Research_-_Final.pdf">modelled the future</a> and concluded that relative child poverty will increase to 3.5m by 2020 – sweeping away all the gains made by the Labour government <a href="http://www.cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/CPAG-Ending-child-poverty-by-2020-progress-made-lessons-learned-0612_0.pdf">after 1999</a>.</p>
<p>This is not inevitable; it is the result of present policies. Policy brought child poverty down, and policy has increased it. </p>
<h2>Austerity bites</h2>
<p>Tellingly, pensioner poverty rates have continued to fall since 2010. The <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_303386.pdf;">Office for National Statistics</a> has estimated that between 2007-08 and 2011-12, the median income of retired households has increased by 5.1%, while in contrast, the median incomes of working-age households have fallen by 6.4%. This stems directly from decisions made by the coalition.</p>
<p>The first big factor was the decision to tackle the deficit overwhelmingly through <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26427370">spending cuts</a> rather than tax increases. It is significant that the Lib Dems have now said that they will <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/09/nick-clegg-outlines-lib-dem-fiscal-position">commit</a> to the 2017/18 deficit reduction targets, but not the balance between spending cuts and taxation.</p>
<p>We can also point to various specific decisions that transfer the cost of spending cuts to families with children who received assorted benefits. The list is long but worth reiterating: the abolition of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plans-to-end-the-education-maintenance-allowance-ema-programme">educational maintenance allowances</a> and <a href="http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/hipg/">health during pregnancy grants</a>, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ios-special-report-families-hit-by-freeze-in-child-benefit-8433331.html">freezing child benefit</a>, the switch to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19826770">CPI rather than RPI</a> for uprating, cuts in childcare tax credit, the <a href="http://www.housing.org.uk/policy/welfare-reform/bedroom-tax/">bedroom tax</a> – and much more where that came from. These have all hit the incomes of poor families with children hardest, in addition to the increase in unemployment and record youth unemployment. </p>
<p>In contrast, pensioners’ incomes have been protected by the “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25609485">triple lock</a>”, which ensures that the basic pension and pension credit are uprated by whichever is higher: either inflation or 2.5%.</p>
<p>How the consequences of cuts are distributed across services is so far more difficult to establish firmly, but there is <a href="http://www.nechildpoverty.org.uk/blog/biggest-council-spending-cuts-north-east-areas-highest-child-poverty#sthash.OfE5eYvx.dpuf">evidence</a> that the highest per capita cuts have been in local areas with the highest child poverty rates.</p>
<p>The Chancellor has also introduced costly cuts in taxation on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17450719">higher rate tax payers</a>, <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/budget-2014-price-beer-cut-3259976">beer</a> and <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/budget-2014-petrol-duty-frozen-3260037">petrol</a>. In the last budget, he gave away <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tax-cuts-for-businesses-worth-over-11-billion-per-year-in-2014-2015">£11 billion in cuts</a> in corporation and other business taxes, and his increases in the income tax threshold are <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/budgets/budget2014/opening_remarks.pdf">costing the exchequer</a> £12 billion by 2016/17. The revenue foregone by these tax concessions is all money that could have been spent reducing child poverty.</p>
<h2>Onward and downward</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/csr2014/csr2014_uk_en.pdf">European Commission</a> has urged the UK government to “Continue efforts to reduce child poverty in low-income households”. The <a href="http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/publications/content_676">Children’s Commissioner for England</a> has argued that the cuts “place the Government at risk of not meeting its obligations to children and young people”. UNICEF will publish an <a href="http://www.unicef.org.uk/Latest/Publications/Report-Card-11-Child-well-being-in-rich-countries/">Innocenti Report Card</a> in the autumn, which will probably red card the UK government for its child poverty record.</p>
<p>There is evidence that this slippage is already having an impact on child outcomes. After a long period of decline, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/205221/Statutory_Homelessness_Q1_2013_and_2012-13.pdf">statutory homelessness</a> has increased sharply since 2010. And in the last quarter of 2013, 64% of households granted the main homelessness duty had dependent children. </p>
<p>And similarly, after a long remission, there has been an increase in <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/search/index.html?nscl=Suicide+Rates&nscl-orig=Suicide+Rates&content-type=Dataset&content-type=Reference+table&sortDirection=DESCENDING&sortBy=pubdate">youth suicides</a> since 2007, particularly for 20-24 year olds. That trend was not sustained in 2012, but it needs careful watching. Not least since <a href="http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/good-childhood-report-2013-online/index.html">child happiness</a>, which was improving for a decade, has begun to tail off since 2010. </p>
<p>The Child Poverty Commission was therefore quite right to sound a note of alarm at the state of things. Unless government policy radically changes, the picture will only keep getting worse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Bradshaw is affiliated with Child Poverty Action Group. He has received funding from DWP, Department for Communities and Local Government, European Commission, ESRC, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The Children's Society, UNICEF, Jacobs Foundation.</span></em></p>The swingeing report of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission that the Child Poverty Act 2010 targets for 2020 cannot be met is no surprise. The commission was responding to the government’s…Jonathan Bradshaw, Professor of Social Policy, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/278312014-06-11T04:37:32Z2014-06-11T04:37:32ZThe only way to tackle food poverty and health inequality is to be more radical<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50701/original/wtnhjhnd-1402400525.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Food poverty in Scotland is getting worse</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Trussell Trust</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two reports published this week should act as a wake-up call to the government and society at large, as welfare reforms drive millions of the most vulnerable in the UK into destitution.</p>
<p><a href="http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/below-the-breadline-the-relentless-rise-of-food-poverty-in-britain-317730">Oxfam’s “Below the Breadline”</a>, compiled in conjunction with <a href="http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/">Church Action on Poverty</a> and the <a href="http://www.trusselltrust.org/">Trussell Trust</a>, revealed a 54% rise in the number of food parcels distributed in Britain over the past 12 months. </p>
<p>Food banks gave out more than 20m meals last year to more than a million recipients. Government welfare policy, in particular the use of sanctions withdrawing benefit and leaving those affected with zero income, is identified as the most important driver of this increase.</p>
<p>On the same day the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/commission-publishes-response-to-the-draft-child-poverty-strategy">Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission reported</a> that 3.5m children would be in poverty by 2020 without strong measures aimed at low-income households. It forecast that the UK government will fail in its <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/9/contents">legal duty</a> to reduce child poverty by 2020.</p>
<h2>Punishing the poor</h2>
<p>These reports tell an all-too-familiar tale about the impact of government policy on the poorest in society. It is one in which the poorest and the most vulnerable are penalised for their poverty.</p>
<p>For half a century, household expenditure on food was falling as a proportion of total household expenditure. But now food prices are rising faster than incomes and this is set to continue. Yet Oxfam reminds us that this is not because the UK is getting poorer. In a country where the richest 1% own 54% of the wealth, the richest 1,000 individuals saw their income double over the past five years. </p>
<p>Inequalities are at the heart of understanding the welfare crisis. <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=capital+in+the+21st+century&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=31109187174&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9394207363553358700&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_9ngjht1c7i_b">Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century</a> has shone the spotlight on wealth inequalities in the developed world while <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Spirit-Level-Equality-Everyone/dp/0241954290">Wilkinson & Pickett’s The Spirit Level</a> has linked them with a wide range of health inequalities. Both suggest far greater action is required by government if these widening inequalities are to be reversed.</p>
<h2>The Scottish dimension</h2>
<p>Scotland is <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_345191.pdf">one of the richest parts</a> of the UK, yet it is <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4626269?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21103840861801">also one of the most unequal</a> and <a href="http://www.poverty.org.uk/s02/index.shtml?2">contains some of the worst</a> areas of poverty. The <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/comms/comm121.pdf">Institute of Fiscal Studies estimated</a> that child poverty rates will be back to the worst levels of one in three children living in households below the poverty line by 2020 if income redistribution is not accelerated. </p>
<p>Scotland’s health inequalities are <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Poverty-Scotland-2011-John-McKendrick/dp/1906076596">also among the worst</a> in the UK, which is linked to food poverty and food-related ill-health. The Scottish government’s <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/06/25104032/0">Equally Well policy</a> recognised that “Scotland’s health is improving rapidly but it is not improving fast enough for the poorest sections of our society.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50702/original/bys437sg-1402401907.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50702/original/bys437sg-1402401907.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50702/original/bys437sg-1402401907.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50702/original/bys437sg-1402401907.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50702/original/bys437sg-1402401907.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50702/original/bys437sg-1402401907.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50702/original/bys437sg-1402401907.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50702/original/bys437sg-1402401907.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Food poverty and health inequality go hand in hand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Oxfam</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An example of this problem <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Poverty-Scotland-2011-John-McKendrick/dp/1906076596">is that</a> the richest 10% of the population has a life expectancy at birth of over 13 years more than the poorest 10%. Whether we are looking at cancer, heart disease or strokes, Scotland’s population suffers from <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/TrendMortalityRates">high levels of mortality</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-20694453">high levels of health inequalities</a>.</p>
<h2>How we respond</h2>
<p>The Scotland government has made some attempts to address these problems. It was the first part of the UK <a href="http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/smoking-ban">to ban smoking in public places</a>, for example. It <a href="http://www.govopps.co.uk/1m-pledged-to-scottish-food-banks/">recently announced</a> a £1m provision to emergency food suppliers over the next two years. It also <a href="http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/campaigners-welcome-first-minister%E2%80%99s-universal-free-school-meals-announcement">piloted universal free-school meals</a>, albeit this was short-lived and needs to be reintroduced. Universal free school meals policy is currently <a href="http://www.childrensfoodtrust.org.uk/schoolfoodplan/uifsm/uifsm-faqs">being rolled out</a> elsewhere the UK for infants. </p>
<p>In any case, this week’s reports suggest these efforts represent far too limited a response in the face of the scale of the problem. Oxfam’s demands include: action against zero-hours contracts, limiting the use of welfare sanctions by the Department for Work & Pensions and increasing the national minimum wage to the <a href="http://www.livingwage.org.uk/">living wage</a> by 2020. </p>
<p>Certainly when Oxfam calls for government action to ensure that no one who is eligible for social security is left without money then it is a pretty good indication that something is wrong. </p>
<p>But while its proposals are a start, more far-reaching action to address income and wealth inequalities will still be necessary. Explicitly we need to think about much more progressive income tax policies, at least returning to the 50% top rate of tax; and we need to get serious about taxing not just income but wealth too. Irrespective of the referendum outcome in Scotland, only by making these kinds of changes will blights like food poverty and health inequality ever be addressed. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27831/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carlo has held research grants from the ESRC, Leverhulme Trust and Equality & Human Rights Commission.</span></em></p>Two reports published this week should act as a wake-up call to the government and society at large, as welfare reforms drive millions of the most vulnerable in the UK into destitution. Oxfam’s “Below…Carlo Morelli, Senior Lecturer in Business and Economic History, University of DundeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.