UK study shows poor people get worse services
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Poor people with the greatest need for good healthcare, education, jobs and transport live in areas with the worst access to these services, said a charity’s analysis of British census data on Thursday.
“The census data show quite clearly that although living standards have increased in 60 years, the rich and poor in Britain continue to live in different worlds,” said Ben Wheeler, co-author of the study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
The study of the 2001 census found areas with the highest levels of poor health had the lowest number of doctors, dentists and other health professionals, some 60 years after Britain’s welfare state was introduced to eradicate such inequalities.
Areas with the greatest proportions of young people with no qualifications have the lowest availability of working teachers. The areas doing the best have four times as many teachers per head of population.
Young people are more likely to obtain good qualifications if people in their area of their parents’ generation are also well qualified—although this does not apply to Scotland, where the well qualified young are more evenly spread.
“Perversely, people living in the poorest neighbourhoods with the greatest needs are often the least likely to have access to the services and support that would help them improve their lives and life chances,” said study co-author Danny Dorling.
“It is acutely disappointing to discover that so many opportunities and resources still depend on where people live.”
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