Latest news with #disadvantaged
Telegraph
07-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Nursery teachers offered £4,500 extra to work in poorer areas
Nursery teachers will be offered almost £5,000 extra to work in the poorest areas, the Education Secretary has announced. Bridget Phillipson confirmed the incentive scheme as part of a strategy to join up early years and family services. Nurseries and other pre-school settings will also receive more regular Ofsted inspections under the Government's new 'best start in life strategy'. Announcing details of the strategy on Monday, the Department for Education (DfE) said that one in 10 nurseries in the UK currently had a trained early years teacher. In response, it unveiled a new tax-free £4,500 payment aimed at securing 3,000 more early years teachers in nurseries in the 20 most disadvantaged communities in the country. The department said the payment would act as an incentive 'to attract the very best talent' while also seeking to give disadvantaged pupils a better chance of success. 'Tackling inequalities early' Ms Phillipson said: 'My driving mission is to make sure every child has the chance to succeed no matter their background – and this new strategy will help give our youngest children the very best start in life. 'The best way of reducing inequalities is by tackling them early. That's why we're joining up family support services through our best start family hubs, driving up quality in our early years system and strengthening support for children as they enter primary school. 'These aren't luxuries. They are the essentials, and that is what this government will deliver as we fulfil our Plan for Change.' Ministers will hope that the changes can go some way to tackling a broader staffing crisis in nurseries that has seen thousands of employees leave the industry. About 10,000 people in England left jobs in early years childcare between 2019 and 2023, a fall of 3 per cent. The number of registered childcare providers has also been in steady decline, falling to 61,800 in August last year from 63,200 the year before. All early years providers will be inspected by Ofsted within 18 months of opening from April 2026, the DfE also announced. The schools watchdog will also inspect all providers at least once every four years. At present, inspections are only required to take place every six years. The strategy will also introduce new funding partnerships between local nurseries and schools in an attempt to ease transitions into primary school and 'break down barriers'. Last week, Ms Phillipson called on Britons to have more children and said her childcare reforms would encourage people to do so who would have otherwise rejected the idea. Signalling an apparent shift in government policy in an article for The Telegraph, Ms Phillipson wrote: 'I want more young people to have children, if they so choose.' Her comments came despite Sir Keir Starmer previously saying it was not his place to tell people how many children they have, or to introduce a national 'birth plan'. European leaders including Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, have called on their citizens to have bigger families.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Unconscionable': Optus cops $100m fine
Telecommunications giant Optus has agreed to pay a whopping $100m fine for exploiting hundreds of vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians. The penalty, agreed to with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, covers 'unconscionable conduct' committed by the company between 2019 and 2023. Optus sold products to an estimated 400 vulnerable and disadvantaged customers who did not want or need, or could not use or afford, the products. In some cases, customers were then pursued for debts resulting from the sales, the ACCC said on Wednesday. More to come
News.com.au
18-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Optus agrees to pay $100m fine for ‘unconscionable conduct' between 2019 and 2023
Telecommunications giant Optus has agreed to pay a whopping $100m fine for exploiting hundreds of vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians. The penalty, agreed to with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, covers 'unconscionable conduct' committed by the company between 2019 and 2023. Optus sold products to an estimated 400 vulnerable and disadvantaged customers who did not want or need, or could not use or afford, the products. In some cases, customers were then pursued for debts resulting from the sales, the ACCC said on Wednesday.
BBC News
04-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
'Urgent' action needed over Sheffield school exclusions
The rate of pupil exclusions from schools in Sheffield has risen sharply and has "consistently exceeded" the national average in recent years, a report has than one in every 1,660 pupils in the city's schools was permanently excluded in 2024, according to statistics revealed in the report to be considered by Mansergh, the report's author, said the figures suggested "deeper, systemic challenges not seen to the same extent elsewhere".Mr Mansergh, access and inclusion lead at Sheffield City Council, called for "urgent, coordinated action" to address exclusion rates, which had increased across pupil groups since 2022. The rate of permanent exclusions in England in the 2023-24 spring term was 0.04 per 100 pupils, equivalent to one in every 2,500 pupils, compared to 0.06 exclusions per 100 pupils in Sheffield in the same period.A report to be seen by members of Sheffield City Council's education, children and families policy committee next week stated that 190 exclusions had been recorded in Sheffield so far this to the figures, 160 of those pupils were at secondary schools, 25 were at primary schools and five were at schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).The report stated that children from disadvantaged backgrounds, with SEND, or from ethnic minority communities were over-represented in exclusion figures. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, councillors would be told that an exclusions strategy had been drafted and would be developed alongside the Learn Sheffield partnership and other children's Sheffield Inclusion Centre had already increased its capacity to deliver education for excluded children, while exclusion data would also be monitored in order to identify risks quicker and make more targeted interventions. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
The Independent
04-06-2025
- General
- The Independent
Top universities pledge more support for care leavers to widen access to courses
Top universities have pledged more support for care leavers – including contextual admissions and bursaries – to get more disadvantaged young people into higher education. The Russell Group, which represents many of the most selective universities in the UK, has also set out a plan to improve the transparency and consistency of policies for contextual offers. In a report, the group of 24 research-intensive universities made a series of commitments to improve access for under-represented students. It comes after Universities UK (UUK), which represents 141 universities, recently called for evidence to better understand how universities use contextual admissions – which take into account a student's circumstances and background to recognise the barriers they have faced. Practices already used by universities to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds progress into higher education include reducing offer requirements and guaranteeing interviews. Russell Group universities will now launch a taskforce to develop practical methods to 'bring consistency to the language used' for contextual admissions policies across their institutions. The paper said: 'Clear and consistent language on contextual admissions practices means that future learners exploring their options for applying to higher education better understand policies across institutions, ensuring they can make better-informed decisions.' All Russell Group universities have said they will provide a tailored support package for all care leaver students – including accommodation support, bursaries and contextual admissions. Care leavers are a 'disproportionately under-represented' group across higher education (HE), with just 14% of care leavers in higher education by the age of 19 in 2021/22 compared to 47% of the wider population, the report from the group said. A lack of a stable family network to fall back on for financial help or emotional support means they may require greater pastoral care, and they may need year-round accommodation. Once in place, the Russell Group universities have said they will extend this support package to care-experienced and estranged students to help them gain access to university and deal with the additional challenges they face during their studies. It comes after Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson called on universities in January to 'play a stronger role' in expanding access and improving outcomes for disadvantaged students. In November, Ms Phillipson announced that undergraduate tuition fees in England, which had been frozen at £9,250 since 2017, would rise to £9,535 from 2025/26. She also announced that maintenance loans would increase in line with inflation in the 2025-26 academic year to help students with their living costs. The Russell Group has repeated its calls for the Government to reintroduce maintenance grants for the poorest students in England, and review the parental income thresholds that determine how much students can borrow to help ease 'the growing financial pressures on students'. The Government is due to set out its plan for higher education reform in the summer. Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group, said: 'As educational inequalities have grown at school level since the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, it's more important than ever that universities are ambitious in their attempts to close these gaps and remove barriers for students with the potential to thrive at university. 'Care-experienced students remain one of the most under-represented groups in higher education, with specific challenges particularly around finances and independent living. 'That's why we've made this commitment to make sure all our universities are offering a tailored package of support, so these students get the assistance they need not just to gain a place, but to thrive at university with the right resources.' In April, UUK announced a joint project with Ucas and the Sutton Trust to review the criteria used for contextual admissions to encourage greater consistency across universities. The current admissions system is 'hard to navigate and a barrier' which is potentially putting off young people from reaching university, UUK said. A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: 'Through our ambitious Plan for Change we will restore universities as engines of opportunity, aspiration and growth. 'We know there are baked-in inequalities and regional disparities that remain in our education system, which is why we are demanding that providers play a stronger role in expanding access and improving outcomes for disadvantaged students. We welcome this commitment from Russell Group universities. 'We aim to publish our plans for HE reform as part of the Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy White Paper in the summer, as we fix the foundations of higher education to deliver change for students.' Katharine Sacks-Jones, chief executive of Become, the national charity for children in care and young care leavers, said: 'Care-experienced young people tell us how tough it is to get into and stay in higher education. 'So the Russell Group's expanded help is very welcome and could be a game changer.' She added: 'This is exactly the kind of step we need other universities to follow.' Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, said: 'I hope this move from the Russell Group inspires other institutions to widen access to care experienced young people, improving their offer so they can navigate higher education with confidence.'
