16 December 2025
The opportunity gap facing low-income boys
The Institute for Government has published its new report ‘Starting Behind, Staying Behind: The opportunity gap facing boys from low-income families at age 5 and beyond’. It is the second in a series looking at policy for ‘left-behind’ groups.
It finds that boys from low-income families are most at risk of not being school ready, explores the systemic barriers that some of these boys face, outlines why it is important to address this to meet the government’s objectives and highlights where policy has failed in the past.
Family stress, poor access to high-quality services and local influences contribute to low-income boys being less likely to be ready for school by the age of 5. Factors that constrain their early development include few language-based activities at home, unconscious bias at school and multigenerational attitudes towards education.
While expanding childcare has been a key part of early years policy, less funding has been available for child development, and siloed approaches have hampered implementation of joined-up approaches.
Read more about the research into the opportunity gap.
It finds that boys from low-income families are most at risk of not being school ready, explores the systemic barriers that some of these boys face, outlines why it is important to address this to meet the government’s objectives and highlights where policy has failed in the past.
Family stress, poor access to high-quality services and local influences contribute to low-income boys being less likely to be ready for school by the age of 5. Factors that constrain their early development include few language-based activities at home, unconscious bias at school and multigenerational attitudes towards education.
While expanding childcare has been a key part of early years policy, less funding has been available for child development, and siloed approaches have hampered implementation of joined-up approaches.
Read more about the research into the opportunity gap.
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