Suffer the children
Last week the UK went into a ‘technical recession.’ For many there is nothing technical about the financial stress that they live with. It’s real, raw and ruining their life chances. This is particularly true for our young people.
29% of children live in poverty. UNICEF’s Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth report card ranked the UK 37th out of 39 OECD and EU countries for rates of child poverty. Depressingly, the UK had the greatest child poverty growth rate. For reasons such as lack of home study space, digital poverty, having more care/work responsibilities and attendance at poorer performing schools, poverty has a devastating impact on children’s educational outcomes.
This is so well understood to be the case that children on Free School Meals are categorised separately in the Department of Education statistics. In 2022/23 23.8% of pupils were eligible for free school meals, the highest recorded number since 2006 when data started to be collected. This represents over 2 million pupils, less than half of which will leave school with a standard pass in English and Maths GCSE.
Those that experience poverty continue to lose out even after entering higher education.
For many, the archetype of being a carefree university student is out of reach. Rising rent, expensive utility bills and the extortionate price of food means that the majority of students now work alongside their studies. The average being 13.5 hours per week. Keeping both study and work plates spinning jeopardises students’ ability to do well in their degree. As noted by Nick Hillman, Director of Hepi, “Somewhere between 12 and 17 hours paid employment is the danger zone because you're doing a really intense paid job on top of a full-time course.”
Unsurprisingly, this risk is most prevalent amongst students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who are less able to rely on family financial support to supplement their income.
On a more subtle note, not having much disposable income completely alters the university experience. An integral part of university is trying new things and meeting new people - something that becomes infinitely more difficult if you are excluded as you can’t afford the sign-up fees for societies or to engage in social activities where life-long bonds are made and social capital built.
Must do better
Transformative change requires a holistic approach that deals with all co-dependencies. Economic growth, school funding, accommodation costs, to name a few. This will take time, yet time is something that our young people don’t have. If you are forced to withdraw from classes because you need to work to survive then that’s a learning opportunity missed.
The Student Money Survey states that students have seen a 14% increase in their living costs. Yet, maintenance loans in England rose by just 2.8% this academic year. An immediate fix would be to link the maintenance loan to inflation.
Better still, reinstate maintenance grants as called for by the Augar review into education and funding back in 2019 and more recently by the Social Mobility Foundation and a host of other leading lights working with students.
The scales are stubbornly tilted against children from challenging financial circumstances achieving social mobility. Getting them to enter higher education is an important part of redressing this balance but it isn’t enough without tangible support to help them to afford to stay in it.