The Social Mobility Commission’s ‘State of the nation’ report published yesterday (Tuesday 28 November) has found a significant different between regions with a ‘striking geographical divide with London and its surrounding areas pulling away from the rest of the country’.
The report ranks all 324 local authorities in England in terms of their social mobility prospects for someone from a disadvantaged background. It uses a range of 16 indicators for every major life stage, from early years through to working lives, to map the nation’s social mobility. London dominates the hotspots, while the East and West Midlands are the worst performing regions.
Reported key findings relevant to our region are:
- The Midlands is the worst region of the country for social mobility for those from disadvantaged backgrounds – half of the local authority areas in the East Midlands and more than a third in the West Midlands are social mobility coldspots
- Coastal and older industrial towns – places such as Scarborough, Hastings, Derby and Nottingham – are becoming entrenched social mobility coldspots
- Some of the richest places in England, such as West Berkshire, Cotswold and Crawley, deliver worse outcomes for their disadvantaged children than places that are much poorer such as Sunderland and Tower Hamlets
- Apart from London, English cities are punching below their weight on social mobility outcomes. No other city makes it into the top 20%
- Early years – disadvantaged children are 14 percentage points less likely to be school ready at age 5 in coldspots than in hotspots: in 94 areas, under half of disadvantaged children reach a good level of development at age 5
- In Bolsover, just 17% of residents are in jobs that are professional and managerial positions, compared to 51% in Oxford
- In Blaby, Rochford and Harborough, 80% of residents own their homes whereas in Tower Hamlets it is just 18%.
Source: Social Mobility Commission: State of the Nation 2017
Source: Social Mobility Commission: State of the Nation 2017
You can read the full press release here and access the index here .
This report is clearly of high significance to those working in education settings in the East Midlands – how are our schools and Regional Schools’ Commissioners (RSCs) going to address this?
