UK government creates new equalities unit focused on class disadvantage

A new centre for class policy

Britain's government is creating a unit dedicated to analysing class and socioeconomic inequality, placing disparities affecting white working-class communities among its central priorities. Women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson was due to announce the change on September 9. The unit will sit inside the Office for Equality and Opportunity and examine unequal access to services and life outcomes across every ethnic group, rather than operating as an office exclusively for white Britons.

The reorganisation gives class a more explicit place in national equalities policy but stops short of changing the Equality Act. Social class will not become a protected characteristic under that legislation. Instead, the unit is intended to function as a hub for evidence and policy analysis, examining how income, place and socioeconomic background shape people's experiences of public services and their prospects in education, employment and later life.

Institutions and policy tools will change

The government plans to abolish the Social Mobility Commission, the advisory body established in 2010 to monitor progress and advise ministers. Some officials currently supporting the commission are expected to transfer to the new organisation. The restructuring matters because it moves the work closer to central government decision-making, although its practical influence will depend on its remit, resources and whether departments act on its analysis.

One early priority will be implementing the socioeconomic duty, which would require public bodies to consider how their decisions could reduce disadvantages experienced by lower-income families. Ministers also intend to reassess how deprivation is measured and how those measurements influence funding for services including health and childcare. The government's April education strategy provides the policy backdrop: it identifies disadvantaged children, particularly white working-class pupils, as a group whose attainment and engagement require targeted action.

What to watch next

The next tests will be the formal announcement, the timetable and legal mechanism for activating the socioeconomic duty, and publication of any revised deprivation measures. Details about staffing, access to departmental data and reporting requirements will show whether the unit can shape spending decisions or mainly produce analysis. Its treatment of overlapping inequalities will also face scrutiny: the government says the remit covers all ethnic groups, while its stated emphasis on white working-class outcomes creates a need to demonstrate that help for one disadvantaged population does not displace attention from others.