Too many young Londoners struggling to access the wealth of opportunities London offers

Since the Prime Minister’s election victory in December, Boris Johnson has promised to “level up” the UK and narrow the regional inequalities that exist throughout the country. 

It might seem that Treasury is about to produce its most significant internal reforms in decades, casting aside the old rules and producing new spending formulas that focus on repaying the faith of the voters in the former ‘Red Wall’ across North West, The Midlands, Yorkshire & Humber and the North East that have now placed their faith in this Conservative government. 

As someone who originally grew up on a council estate in a former mining town just outside Newcastle-upon-Tyne, I can’t help but agree with the principles behind these moves. 

I felt like I had to leave the North East to seek opportunity - and that must change. 

It’s true that talent is spread evenly across the country, and so opportunities should be too. To this end, the Government’s move to improve northern infrastructure and level up the North of England has the potential to truly shift the dial on regional inequalities. 

But while the Government is moving in the right direction with the levelling up agenda, we must approach with balance. 

While on the surface London is a thriving City that boasts record economic growth and employment, some areas of London face some of the most significant challenges in the country. This is masked by the success of the upper-tier earners that disproportionately benefit from the opportunities and wealth distribution. 

London is often dismissed as a catalyst of privilege, with a wealth of opportunities, full of social mobility “hot spots,” but the reality for the majority of those among the lower deciles is a significantly different reality. 

Put simply, too many young Londoners are struggling to access the wealth of opportunities the city offers. 

The proportion of Londoners living in poverty,  after housing costs are taken into account, is higher than any other region in the country. In London, this is approximately 27%, compared to an average of 21% across the rest of the country. 

For those in the lowest three deciles in Greater London, they have become a victim of London’s success; as the boom inflates the cost of living, wages for the average Londoner remain largely stagnant, and the quality of life for the lowest three deciles decreases.

For young people growing up in the average household in London, owning a home in their home town is less of a realistic aspiration than in anywhere else in the UK. Across the UK as a whole the average house price to earnings ratio stands at 10.7, compared to 18.0 in London, near double that of the UK as a whole.

This means that young people growing up in London are less likely to have the opportunity to live in their local community than their non-London peers. 

The lack of accessibility of opportunities is also a worsening problem for young people in London. A study published this month by the Mayor’s Fund for London showed that, contrary to the common perspective of London as a catalyst for opportunity, young Londoners from low-income backgrounds are actually less likely to move into professional or managerial jobs than young people in any other region in England – at 17%, compared to 30% across the country.  

London has achieved some successes, such as increasing education attainment and successfully narrowing the attainment gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and their more affluent peers.

However, problems still manifest themselves in terms of spending power per person. Indeed, London boroughs’ spending power per person has fallen 37% in real terms by 2020, compared to 29% across the rest of England. 

Even when those from lower-income backgrounds succeed in entering professional employment, they earn, on average, £10,660 less per year than those whose parents were in higher professional and managerial employment – this compares to a gap of £6,800 nationally.

While London might be the 'richest' region in terms of GDP per capita, it also holds some of Britain's biggest challenges and entrenched pockets of poverty - those parts of London need to be levelled up too. 

Callum Crozier

Director of Policy and Engagement, Social Mobility Pledge