BARNSLEY East MP Stephanie Peacock is calling for urgent action from the government after recent figures revealed Barnsley has one of the lowest levels of social mobility in the country.
In its annual State of the Nation report, the Social Mobility Commission described a stark postcode lottery for social mobility in Britain, identifying Barnsley as one of the worst areas in the country - number 291 out of 324 local authority areas in England.
In areas of London such as Kensington and Chelsea about 50 per cent of disadvantaged young people go on to university, but this figure falls to about ten per cent in Barnsley.
“These figures paint a damning picture of the appalling levels of social mobility inequality in the UK,” said Ms Peacock.
“I’m demanding urgent action from the government to address this scandalous imbalance, and make sure every child in Barnsley is given the best opportunity to succeed.”
Leader of Barnsley Council Sir Steve Houghton told the Chronicle: “No government has come to terms with how we resolve social mobility, particularly among white working class communities who do tend to perform worse educationally. White working class boys particularly struggle to reach their potential.
“That is why we’ve had such a strong focus on education in Barnsley, and what we’ve also done is a huge amount of work in job creation.
“While the council has faced severe financial challenges, we have continued to spend a lot of time and money on job creation programmes, and we continue to prioritise that.
“In the end it’s all about employment and education, and it must start with education.”
