What You Need To Know About Poverty And Education

By age five, 48 per cent of children eligible for free school meals achieve a ‘good level of development’ (according to the Government’s school readiness measure), compared to 67 per cent of other children.

By age 11, 60 per cent of children on free school meals achieve the expected level of attainment, compared to 79 per cent of those not on free school meals.

In 2012/13, 35% of children on Free School Meals gained five A*-C grades at GCSE (including maths and English), compared to 62% of other children.

Adults with low qualifications are much more likely to be unemployed: a quarter of those aged 25 – 29 with low or no qualifications lack but want work.

Half of all employees aged 25 – 29 with low or no qualifications are low paid. This also means that they are likely to have less access to training and development and are more likely to have insecure jobs

Sixty six per cent of children in poverty now live in working households. Three quarters of those are in households where at least one adult works full time. Low pay is now a more important factor in working poverty than working low numbers of hours

Research from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission found that three quarters of people think that family background has a significant impact on life chances. And that there is a stronger relationship between parents’ background and children’s future income in Britain than in many other countries. Our education system needs to do much more to give children from low income families fair opportunities for their future.