Children from poorer backgrounds are missing out on university places, according to the shadow secretary for child poverty.
Labour’s Wes Streeting, shadow child poverty secretary, and Stretford and Urmston’s MP Kate Green both visited University Academy 92 in Trafford and argued that opportunity is being ‘stripped away’ from Greater Manchester’s young people as poorer teens are missing out on university places.
Labour party research states young people from poorer households in Greater Manchester are increasingly less likely than their more affluent peers to attend university.
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But a spokesperson for the Department for Education challenged the findings and stated under this government there are record numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds that have progressed onto university and college this year.
Over the past decade the gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and other students attending university has widened, according to Labour’s research.
Labour said in some areas of Greater Manchester, pupils from more affluent backgrounds are more than twice as likely to go to university than their less well-off neighbours.
In some places just one in every five (21pc) pupils eligible for free school meals entered higher education last year – well below the national average – and the gap in university admissions between pupils eligible for free school meals and other students now stands at the same level as it did in 2005, according to the research.
However, the spokesperson for the Department for Education stated that 18-year-olds from the most disadvantaged areas were 80pc more likely to go to university full-time in 2020 than they were in 2009.
Kate Green and Wes Streeting visited the University Academy 92 campus (UA92) in Stretford following an announcement that the higher education facility is offering support packages to students from disadvantaged backgrounds – including laptops and travel passes.
Wes Streeting MP, said: “A university education ought to be within the reach of every child willing to work hard.
“It is heart-breaking that the gap between children from poorer backgrounds and their more affluent peers is widening. What a waste of talent and ambition.”
Kate Green MP, said: “Opportunity is being stripped away from young people in Greater Manchester.
“University education should be available and affordable to every young person who wants and can benefit from it. And that includes every young person in Trafford and Greater Manchester.”
The Department for Education spokesperson said: “Under this government not only are there record numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds that have progressed onto university and college this year, there are already record numbers of disadvantaged students applying for courses next year, at this stage in the application cycle.
“The UniConnect programme, which has now been extended for another three years, is just one of the routes being used to promote genuine social mobility across the country.
“Access and participations plans have also helped to drive significant progress. 18-year-olds from the most disadvantaged areas were 80pc more likely to go to university full-time in 2020 than they were in 2009, and our reforms, including those in the Skills Bill, continue to level up opportunity and drive up the standards of education, ensuring a range of post – 18 options that lead to high value, high quality and high wage jobs.”
The Office for Students (OfS) has provided £60 million of funding per year since 2017 to supports collaborative outreach through the Uni Connect programme which was initially constituted as a four-year programme running until July 2021.
The programme is understood to have helped widen participation in higher education in some of the most deprived communities across the country and the programme has now been extended until 2024-25.
An additional £85m of funding was also made available in the 2020/21 academic year, targeting students in the greatest need, for example those struggling with the additional costs arising from having to maintain accommodation in more than one location, due to the pandemic.
This was on top of £256m that universities could draw on towards student hardship funds.
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