Recently, fellow grantmaker Local Trust published a report identifying over 200 specific areas in the UK that exhibit features they call ‘Left Behind’. Areas where are there are staggering poor outcomes for vulnerable people, but that are often ignored by major funding streams. People in these places have higher rates of unemployment and child poverty, and their health is also worse than those living in other deprived areas. And the evidence is that they are falling further behind.
The Blagrave Trust is a regional funder, supporting Berkshire, Hampshire, Sussex and Wiltshire. We know there are real challenges for young people in each of these areas but the Local Trust identified 6 areas within these boundaries that they would call ‘left behind’: In Hampshire, Paulsgrove (Cosham), Bitterne, (N Southampton), Grange (Gosport), Bondfields (Havant) and Warren Park (Leigh Park) and in Sussex, Sidley (Bexhill on Sea).
We asked them to do some further analysis on how young people in the South are faring in these areas and the results are stark. Population rates are down. Unemployment rates for young people are higher than in other areas, even other ‘deprived’ neighbourhoods and – contra the national trend – they are still rising, and attainment levels at GCSEs have actually decreased over time. So much for closing the gap. A lower proportion of young people in these areas stay on to College than in other disadvantaged areas – this could be exacerbated by the fact that average public transport times are much longer than in other disadvantaged areas, despite the fact all these areas are in urban settings.
Read the headlines here. We commissioned this research to inform our own analysis, and also to benefit anyone working in these areas and beyond. If you would like access to the raw data, please contact Tessa Hibbert tessa.hibbert@blagravetrust.org.