Government education policies are most serious risk to social mobility, warns UCU ahead of policy launch

As the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, joins social mobility experts from across the UK to launch a policy association promoting social mobility through higher education, UCU warned that the government's own education policies were the greatest risk to social mobility.
 
The union said it welcomed warm words from Nick Clegg and chair of the Bridge Group, Dr Tessa Stone, on the importance of social mobility. However, UCU said government decisions to triple university fees and remove key funding, such as the education maintenance allowance (EMA) for college students and AimHigher funding (to promote university to students from the poorest backgrounds), would reduce the life chances of youngsters from low and average-income backgrounds.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet when it comes to social mobility, yet since this government took power, we have seen major financial barriers erected in the face of those from low and average-income backgrounds.
 
'Nick Clegg has made lots of positive noises about the importance of social mobility, but the policies of his government give us little confidence that social mobility is at the heart of any of the government's plans. The greatest risk to social mobility at present is the government's own regressive education policies.'
 
More on the policy launch can be found at www.thebridgegroup.org.uk