Class structure ‘disintegrating’
Britain’s class structure is starting to disintegrate, according to the government, with the news that social mobility is showing signs of improvement.
A report published today shows that children from disadvantaged backgrounds may be able to overtake their parents on the social ladder for the first time in three decades.
Liam Byrne, Cabinet Office minister, will welcome the report later today.
“Despite the huge economic, social and political changes between 1970 and 2000, social mobility in Britain did not rise. Since 2000 new evidence suggests this might be beginning to change,” he will say.
But the Tories dismissed the report as propaganda.
Chris Grayling, shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “This has all the hallmarks of a government propaganda exercise. The reality in Britain today is that we have some of the lowest social mobility in the industrialised world.
“We have youth unemployment higher than it was a decade ago, the number of British people in work has been falling sharply over the past two years and official figures show that poverty is now rising steadily.”
One of the report’s key findings is a reduction in the impact of family background on the academic results of children aged 15.
The report said: “These findings suggest that family background will have less of an impact on the income of these children when they reach adulthood than those born in 1970. They are likely to experience higher social mobility.”
It cites a quadrupling of spending on early years and childcare as the reason for the improvement.
The government has spent £5 billion on early years development in 2007/08.
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