Category Archives: Inequality

Top A-level grades are up – but worrying regional disparities remain

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There are stark contrasts between north and south England, in Northern Ireland and Wales, and between private and state schools

Many students in England receiving their A-level grades on Thursday will be happy after overall results showed an increase in the number of As and A*s, exceeding not only last year’s results, but those recorded before the disruption caused by the pandemic. Nevertheless, disparities remain between northern and southern England, and in Northern Ireland and Wales where results fell compared with last year, as well as between private and state schools.

It is the second year in England that A-level and GCSE assessment has returned to pre-pandemic norms. Exams were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 after Covid closed schools for long periods, and A-level grades based on teachers’ predictions led to a sharp spike in top results.

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Major job provider accused of trying to get jobseeker to sign off on false work invoice

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Woman claims APM threatened to cut off her jobseeker payment after she refused to sign false time sheet. APM denies any wrongdoing

One of the country’s biggest job providers is accused of pressuring a jobseeker to sign a false description of her employment status, an alleged deception which would have triggered a publicly funded payment to the company.

The Victorian woman, who did not want to be named, claims the employment service provider APM asked her to sign paperwork confirming she had worked four weeks when she had actually spent months on sick leave. APM has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

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‘It’s put so many families in poverty’: people on the impact of the two-child benefit cap

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As Labour backbenchers call for Keir Starmer to scrap the cap, families reveal their struggles as a result of the two-child limit

Keir Starmer has launched a cross-government taskforce to tackle child poverty, but backbench Labour MPs are calling for the government to go further and scrap the two-child benefit cap. Here people reveal how the limit affects their families.

Alicia* is a mother of four children in Newcastle, and is separated from their father. She does everything she can to avoid going to collect a parcel from a food bank. She will often buy a big sack of potatoes and cook them in different ways throughout the week – jacket potatoes, fried chips, wedges – so her kids get variation. She often skips breakfast and lunch herself.

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Call for action on UK men’s health as 133,000 die early every year

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Movember says British men have worse health than comparable countries and suffer stark regional inequalities

More than 133,000 men die early every year in the UK, equating to 15 every hour, according to a report calling for urgent action to improve men’s health.

Two in five men are dying prematurely, before the age of 75 and often from entirely avoidable health conditions, research by the charity Movember found.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Muted election win for Modi may usher in new era for India’s oligarch class

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Defeats for the ruling Bharatiya Janata party in Uttar Pradesh highlighted an underbelly of malcontent over inequality and lack of jobs

A few weeks before the election that weakened Narendra Modi’s grip on India, the rich, powerful and beautiful descended on his home state of Gujarat. The occasion was what one Indian writer called “likely the most ostentatious pre-wedding ceremony the modern world has ever seen”.

In March, to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Ivanka Trump flew in. So did the entertainment: Rihanna and Akon. The airport near the venue was supposed to be reserved for India’s armed forces but the media reported that the authorities had granted special permission for non-military jets to land.

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EPA announces $300m funding to clean up US former industrial sites

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Environmental Protection Agency says brownfield revitalization spending has quadrupled under Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $300m in new funding to clean up and redevelop 200 industrial sites across the country.

Speaking on Monday from what was once an oil station in south-west Philadelphia’s Kingsessing neighborhood, the EPA’s administrator, Michael Regan, said his agency would allocate $2m to transform the site – which officials say is contaminated with lead and semi-volatile organic compounds – into a waterfront bike trail and office buildings. “With this funding, Philadelphia will be able to work with this site and reconnect Kingsessing to the riverfront,” Regan said.

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Invest in childhood to unlock £45.5bn a year, says Princess of Wales’s taskforce

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Report from group set up by Catherine says business can improve early years and benefit all of society

Business investment in early childhood could unlock £45.5bn in value a year for the UK economy, according to a report by a taskforce created by the Princess of Wales.

In the report, CEOs from eight leading companies urged “businesses of all sizes across the UK, to join us and help build a healthy, happy society for everyone”.

The Co-operative Group creating a specific early childhood fund as part of its unique apprenticeship levy share scheme, and committing to raise £5m over the next five years, creating more than 600 apprenticeships.

Deloitte focusing its ongoing investment in Teach First to include the early years sector for the first time, supporting 366 early years professionals in 2024.

NatWest Group extending its lending target for the childcare sector to £100m, launching an early years accreditation scheme to its staff and producing a financial toolkit for childcare providers to help them grow and succeed.

Ikea UK and Ireland expanding its contribution of support, design expertise and products for babies and young children to six new locations across the UK to help families with young children experiencing the greatest disadvantage.

The Lego Group donating 3,000 LEGO® Education Build Me “Emotions” sets, supported by training materials, to early years providers in the UK.

Iceland Foods providing learning, awareness and support in all 1,000 Iceland and The Food Warehouse stores by featuring emoji posters at a child-friendly height – a practical tool to help customers with young children and to create a space of understanding and support in stores.

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Fewer than one in 10 arts workers in UK have working-class roots

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The cultural sector falls short on other measures of diversity too, with 9o% of workers white, says new report

Six in 10 of all arts and culture workers in the UK now come from middle-class backgrounds, compared with just over 42% of the wider workforce, according to new research.

And while 23% of the UK workforce is from a working-class background, working-class people are underrepresented in every area of arts and culture. They make up 8.4% of those working in film, TV, radio and photography, while in museums, archives and libraries, the proportion is only 5.2%.

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All parents, working or not, should have access to childcare, say experts in England

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Rescue and reform manifesto from Early Education and Childcare Coalition calls for overhaul of model

A manifesto calling for an overhaul of childcare provision in England, including making early education accessible to all children regardless of whether their parents work or not, has been backed by dozens of leading employers and unions.

Thirty-five national organisations have joined forces to call for the reform of the current childcare model, including the Federation of Small Businesses, the Early Years Alliance, the Fawcett Society, the Joseph Rowntree Trust, and National Children’s Bureau.

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‘No longer remotely defensible’: Garrick’s decision to admit women shows times have changed

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Issue was not existence of men-only clubs but uniqueness of Garrick’s powerful membership list casting unflattering spotlight on British establishment

Who cares that an elite organisation full of mostly elderly white men has decided to allow women to join them in a small central London private members’ club?

Such was the reaction of many of the club’s members who had responded with extreme ill-temper to the Guardian’s recent decision to publish the names of about 60 of the Garrick Club’s most influential members. There has been an orgy of mansplaining in newspaper comment pieces. The Garrick’s rules prohibit networking or even working inside the building, these members say, so it would be very wrong-headed and silly to believe that anything of any consequence ever happens within the club’s four walls. The Garrick is merely a spot for friendly relaxation.

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‘We’re so much more than that’: Stormzy opens #MerkyFC HQ centre to tackle racial inequality in football jobs

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Rapper says sport, music and gaming venture in south London is aimed at widening opportunities for young black community

Stormzy has won three Brit awards, headlined Glastonbury, persuaded Usain Bolt and José Mourinho to star in a music video, and bought AFC Croydon Athletic with the former Crystal Palace player Wilfried Zaha.

His skills on the pitch, however, are not up to much. “I’m shit at football. I was never going to be a footballer,” he said. “But maybe if I knew how to be a pundit [I’d have gone down that road]. Maybe if I knew how to be a data analyst or all the intricate jobs behind the scenes that people might not know about.”

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Ethnic minorities in England ‘need more GP visits’ before cancer diagnosis

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One in five people on average need at least three interactions – but for ethnic minorities figure rises to one in three

Ethnic minorities and young people require more visits than other people to the GP before being diagnosed with cancer, according to new analysis.

On average, one in five people across England require three or more GP interactions before being diagnosed with cancer. But for people from ethnic minority backgrounds, the figure rises to one in three, according to analysis of the NHS cancer patient experience 2022 survey by QualityWatch, a joint programme from the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation.

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Joanna Scanlan among actors backing gender equality push in theatre

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Women in Theatre Lab will act as incubator for playwriting and acting talent and address gender inequality

Gemma Arterton, Joanna Scanlan and Stella Kanu are some of the figures backing an initiative to promote women in the theatre, who are being overlooked across the industry, according to the project’s founder.

Women in Theatre Lab will primarily act as an incubator for playwriting and acting talent. Its founder, Jennifer Tuckett, said the group would also put pressure on Arts Council England (ACE) to launch a review of gender inequality across the arts.

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Revealed: how companies made $100m clearing California homeless camps

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Public spending on private sweep contractors is soaring across the state – and unhoused people allege poor treatment

This story was produced in partnership with Type Investigations with support from the Wayne Barrett Project

On an October morning, a small army arrived to evict Rudy Ortega from his home in the Crash Zone, an encampment located near the end of the airport runway in San Jose, California, Silicon Valley’s largest city. As jets roared overhead, garbage trucks and police squad cars encircled Ortega’s hand-built shelter. Heavy machinery operators stood by for the signal to bulldoze Ortega’s camp.

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Covid pandemic made poorest countries even worse off, World Bank warns

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Poverty reduction drive all but halted across many nations as Bank calls for more money to tackle a ‘great reversal’

The devastating impact of the pandemic on the world’s poorest countries has brought poverty reduction to a halt and led to a widening income gap with nations in the rich west, the World Bank has warned.

In a report released to coincide with its half-yearly meeting, the Washington-based organisation said half of the world’s 75 poorest nations had seen income per head rise more slowly than in developed countries over the past five years.

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Many aged care workers may wait until 2026 for full pay increase as Albanese government requests phased implementation

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Commonwealth requests Fair Work Commission phase in full 23% increase over two years to prevent workforce shortages elsewhere

Aged care workers should wait until January 2026 for the full 23% pay rise ordered by the Fair Work Commission, according to the Albanese government.

The commonwealth has requested that the commission phase in the increase over two years, from January 2025 and 2026, to prevent “large one-off wage increases” that would add to workforce shortages elsewhere in the economy.

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Job providers receiving millions of dollars for positions found by jobseekers themselves

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Welfare advocates say there is ‘simply no reason’ for $3.6m in payments over past five years to agencies when jobs were found prior to engaging their service

Job providers are being paid millions of dollars in public money for work that jobseekers are finding themselves, with advocates saying there is “simply no reason” for the payments.

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has paid providers over $3.6m in the past five years for pre-existing employment, where someone on jobseeker found a job prior to starting with a provider, according to data provided to Guardian Australia by the department.

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Outrage as residents in England’s ‘affordable’ housing forced to pay thousands of pounds extra in service charge

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Pressure on Michael Gove to act as householders see bills rise 40%, with many saying that they cannot afford to pay

Some of the UK’s largest housing providers have dramatically increased annual service charges by thousands of pounds, plunging residents into financial crisis, an Observer investigation has found.

Many residents who bought shared-ownership properties built as affordable homes have been sent bills in recent weeks with increases of more than 40%. Some say they are unable to sell the properties having now been lumbered with “extortionate” charges and no cap on future increases. More than 1,000 people across the country are now threatening to refuse to pay.

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US-style executive pay packets in UK would ‘risk higher inequality’

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Leading social scientists issue warning after call by business leaders and London Stock Exchange

More than 20 leading social scientists have warned the UK’s biggest investment companies and pension funds that allowing US-style executive pay packages could “create a significant risk of higher inequality” and “much worse lower levels of happiness, health and wellbeing across society”.

The academics said they had decided to speak out as an increasing number of British business leaders and the London Stock Exchange have argued for much higher pay awards to improve the UK’s competitiveness.

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Government urged to tackle poverty to help the NHS

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Healthcare delays in deprived communities mean greater need for expensive emergency treatment, research finds

People living in poverty find it harder to live a healthy life and face barriers to accessing timely treatment, new research suggests.

A report by the King’s Fund, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, finds that the delays people living in deprived communities face for healthcare mean they are more likely to need expensive emergency treatment.

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