The Social Mobility Commission has published a new report which calls for devolved authorities to be given greater powers and resources to help tackle the UK’s social mobility problem.
The report forms part of the Commission’s focus on place-based approaches to improving social mobility. It is the result of a series of regional roundtables, led by Commissioner Ryan Henson, held with local partners from across the UK, to develop our understanding of opportunity bottlenecks and the issues a place-based approach should address.
The Commission is calling for action in four key areas:
The importance of work for young people
A recurring theme from our regional engagement series was that young people need more support, before they leave secondary education, to be able to experience the world of work.
Our engagement shows that a lack of cultural and social capital has a negative effect on children’s outcomes and the old tenet of ‘work hard and you’ll do well’ is less likely for younger people now than it has ever been.
The need for better transport
Poor transport is a blocker to opportunities for areas of persistent disadvantage, such as coastal areas or areas that previously relied on industry.
In areas of persistent disadvantage, such as small, rural or coastal areas, it may not be feasible to create new jobs, however it does make sense economically to provide good transport links to bigger towns and cities where jobs are located.
The need to prevent welfare traps
Many areas find themselves with large numbers of people unemployed and economically inactive, and many on welfare for long periods of time.
The Government must focus on opportunity, not need. The latest Government initiatives focus on a ‘youth guarantee’ to provide either a college place, an apprenticeship or one-to-one support for young people in receipt of benefits, but is a centralised approach going to have the success of approaches already happening in some devolved regions?
The importance of having a sense of belonging and place
People need to feel a sense of belonging to where they live. To improve outcomes, residents need to see that success is achievable in their neighbourhood – in front of their eyes. Local initiatives that benefit the areas in which people live are the best example of this.
Alun Francis, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, said:
The findings in the Regional Insights report reiterate the Commission’s view that a one-size-fits-all national approach to social mobility does not work. Everyone deserves a fair chance to succeed – but what success looks like is different for everyone. We need to reflect this diversity of experience and individual needs in our policymaking. Only a place-based and local-insight-led approach that addresses real local challenges, to affect real local change.