Wales’ poorest children less likely to do well than their counterparts in England
By News Wales
Study shows 50% more pupils eligible for free school meals in England reach the 5 A*–C at GCSE level compared to their counterparts in Wales
A hard-hitting report published today lays bare the stark challenges facing Wales concerning child poverty and poor levels of educational attainment.
Wales’ poorest children are significantly less likely to do well in school than their counterparts in England, according to the UK Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.
The report warns: “Comparing just the population of children eligible for free school meals [FSM] across England and Wales shows that 50 per cent more FSM pupils reach the 5 A*–C at GCSE threshold (including maths and English/Welsh) in England than in Wales – although, at under two fifths of all children, the absolute level remains unacceptably low in England as well.”
The gap in Wales between the most disadvantaged students and the rest is also higher than in England. Wales performs less well than all regions in England, including comparably deprived regions like the North East.
Even among children from better-off backgrounds, there is a failure to achieve the same standards as in England.
The authors write: “At age five the poorest children from Wales are a little behind the poorest children in England in vocabulary skills, but by age seven a notable gap has opened up. By age seven the word-reading ability of children in Wales is behind that of children in England and Scotland, irrespective of whether they are from families with relatively low or high incomes.”
Detailing the high levels of child poverty, the report states: “Wales faces big challenges in tackling child poverty with, for example, 23% of children in relative income poverty before housing costs (compared to 18% in the UK as a whole) and 33% of children in relative income poverty after housing costs (compared to 28% in the UK as a whole) in the three years ending in 2011-12.”
It also highlights a surge in the number of Welsh children now dependent on social services: “The proportion of children under the age of 18 in Wales who are looked after by local authorities has increased by 43% since 2003, from 64 per 10,000 in 2003 to 91 per 10,000 in 2013. The proportion of children in Wales who are looked after by local authorities is almost 60% higher than in England, where 59 per 10,000 were looked after in 2012.”
The commission’s report – State of the Nation 2013 – underscores Wales’ status as one of the very poorest areas of the UK.
It states: “Comparing Wales to the rest of the United Kingdom, Wales has the joint highest rate of relative poverty of any area of the country before housing costs and has the second highest rate of relative poverty after housing costs. There has also been no closing of the gap between the rates of child poverty in Wales and England over the last 15 years, while the gap with Scotland has widened significantly.”
While it acknowledges there has been “much progress over time in tackling poverty in Wales” it cautions there is “clearly a long way further still to go”.
Warning the situation may get worse, it adds: “Wales has the joint highest rate of child poverty of any area of the UK. After housing costs, Wales has the second highest rate of child poverty of any area of the UK with only London having higher poverty.
“Half of children in poverty in Wales live in workless households. Many areas of South Wales and the Valleys are among the most deprived in the UK with, for example, more than one in five of the working-age population claiming benefits in several local authority areas.
“Many analysts are also projecting that child poverty is set to increase over the next few years, with rates of child poverty anticipated to follow similar trends as in the rest of the United Kingdom.”
Of the children living in poverty in Wales, more than half (52%) are in working households, compared to a UK average of 66%.
The report’s authors note there are “several areas where other countries in the United Kingdom could learn from the experience of Wales, especially around its efforts to make the experience of poverty less damaging to children, the focus on area-based initiatives in deprived communities as a key means of delivering its objectives to tackle poverty, and the active role local public services are expected to take in reducing child poverty.”
But they pressed the Welsh Government to investigate how it could use its own pay and progression policies to tackle “in-work poverty” and how councils and public bodies could be encouraged to pay a “living wage”. They also say there is “scope to be more ambitious” on education, stating that even if an existing target for improving the GCSE performance of children on free school meals is met “almost two-thirds of poor children will be failing to achieve the ‘basics’”.
The report warns: “As is the case elsewhere in the UK, it is clear that academically ablechildren from disadvantaged backgrounds in Wales are less likely to achieve good A-levels, enter higher education (especially at the most selective universities) or to access the professions. If the strategy is to achieve its ambition of breaking the link between educational attainment and poverty, it is essential that these ‘disadvantage gaps’ are tackled as well as the gaps in the ‘basics’.”
It also flags up fears that “some children from poor backgrounds may be losing out on support,” stating: “free childcare for two-year olds is part of the Flying Start programme and is only available to eligible families living in the relevant areas.”
The “overall amount of childcare on offer in Wales is lower than in Scotland and England for three and four-year-olds” and researchers found it “difficult to obtain a clear picture on the quality of childcare in Wales”.
Vaughan Gething, the Welsh Government’s deputy minister for tackling poverty, responded to the findings, stating: “This report is an important contribution to how we help the poorest in our society. It says we are doing many of the right things and acknowledges that the rest of the UK could learn from what the Welsh Government is doing, especially our efforts to make the experience of poverty less damaging to children and the way we represent school performance information.
“However, we are not complacent and tackling poverty is a daily battle where we can’t afford to take our foot off the pedal. We are determined to do all we can and to use our resources to help those from our least well off communities to make sure they have the same opportunities as the rest of society.
“A key part of this will be breaking the link between poverty and poor educational attainment and helping children have the right start in life through our Flying Start programme. I believe we are doing more and going further than the UK Government or any of the other devolved administrations in our efforts to tackle poverty.
“We are doing this against a tough backdrop, with cuts to welfare, the cost of living rising and a sluggish economy. Despite this we are unwavering in our commitment to do all we can.”