Can anyone really be surprised that among the worst districts for social mobility identified by Alan Milburn’s Social Mobility Commission are some of the wealthiest areas in Britain? Ranked out of 324 districts in England West Berkshire comes in at 265, Cotswold at 268, Herefordshire 271, Chichester 287 and West Somerset bottom at 324.
Surely it can’t really come as that much of a shock given how governments of both colours have thrown educational resources at ‘deprived’ areas. It might look good politically to sprinkle extra resources on places which the public associates with deprivation, but it rather overlooks the fact that while some areas of the country have high overall wealth there are plenty of low-income families who inhabit them. If you are living in the Cotswolds and struggling to make ends meet, you never had much of an education yourself and your local comprehensive isn’t up to much, it doesn’t help your children’s education that you have living among you some wealthy London commuters.
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