A new report from the Fairness Foundation looks at the impact of the wealth gap across a wide range of societal factors. One of the findings is that it leads to unfair inequalities in children’s mental health and wellbeing. The report notes that wealthier families may be able to provide more enriching experiences, live in safer neighbourhoods with more resources, and experience less economic stress, all of which can contribute to better behavioural outcomes in children. Across all cohorts studied, children in families who owned their homes were less likely to experience emotional or behavioural difficulties than those in rented accommodation. The findings suggest that wealth-linked markers of stability, such as homeownership, play a protective role in children’s psychological development across generations.
It also finds that parental wealth plays a significant role in determining educational and career outcomes for
children. The effect of parental wealth on educational outcomes persists into adulthood, with children from wealthier families more likely to obtain higher qualifications, attend prestigious universities.
A third fuinding is that the wealthy leverage their financial resources to provide their children with the best education, tutoring, internships, and connections, giving them a substantial head start. This perpetuates a cycle where high-
paying jobs and leadership positions are disproportionately occupied by those from affluent families, regardless of merit.
They include recommendations to reduce the gap, including:
- Investing in social housing would generate substantial economic benefits and improve public health outcomes;
- Abolishing the two-child limit on universal credit (and the benefits cap) would drastically reduce poverty and wealth inequality;
- Restricting the number of privately educated students accepted to universities would likely improve social mobility.
The full report is available from the Fairness Foundation website, here.
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