News Archive 2023

CASE News
Limitarianism: the case against extreme wealth

Wednesday 31 January 2024 6.30pm to 8.00pm

LSE Public Event hosted jointly by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion and LSE Government

Speakers: Professor Ingrid Robeyns, Professor Lea Ypi

Chair: Dr Tania Burchardt

It’s often said that there shouldn’t be any billionaires. But this is a mistake. What we need is a world without decamillionaires – people having more than ten million pounds. That is what the philosopher Ingrid Robeyns from the University of Utrecht argues in her new book Limitarianism. The Case Against Extreme Wealth.

Why would a world without anyone being superrich be better? Because extreme wealth undermines democracy; is incompatible with climate justice; and the money could be used much better elsewhere. Most fundamentally, no-one deserves to have so much money. But do these reasons stand up to scrutiny? Would preventing the accumulation of extreme wealth kill innovation, undermine our freedoms and opportunities to live the lives we lead, and in the end also harm the poor? Is limitarianism viable? Would it require us to abolish capitalism, and if so, what could replace it? And what, if anything, would it require from the overwhelming majority who do not have sizeable wealth?

This event will put these ideas to the test in a lively debate with the author of Limitarianism in conversation with LSE's Lea Ypi.

Click here for further details on how to attend this event.

CASE News
Children in affluent areas get more special needs support

New CASE research by Tammy Campbell finds that children with special educational needs living in affluent areas have a higher chance than those in poorer areas of being diagnosed with certain disabilities and conditions, including dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD. 

The research, funded by the British Academy, also finds that children with special educational needs living in affluent areas are more likely to be in receipt of an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), which is a higher-level SEND provision funded by local authorities. It therefore provides key evidence for concerns that there is a ‘rationing’ of support, and, consequentially, unmet need, in poorer locations.

Tammy Campbell analysed 4.5 million children in state primary schools using the National Pupil Database. She found that 16.2% in primary school are recorded with SEND: 12.9% at ‘support’-level, and 3.3% with an EHCP.

The key findings are:

Children with SEND living in more affluent areas have higher chances than those in poorer areas of being diagnosed with less prevalent, more precisely defined conditions, that involve agencies and resources outside of the school in diagnosis:

• Around 10.3% are recorded with ‘Autistic Spectrum’ conditions in the most deprived areas; 11.9% in the most affluent areas.
• For ‘Specific Learning Difficulties,’ (SPLD) which includes conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, and ADHD – which, like Autism, require diagnosis by professionals outside of the immediate school environment – the gradient is particularly clear. Around 15% of children with SEND living in the most affluent decile are recorded with SPLD compared to about 6% in the most deprived.
• Around 2.3% are recorded with ‘Physical Disabilities’ in the most deprived areas; 3.4% in the most affluent areas.
• Around 1.3% are recorded with ‘Hearing’ conditions in the most deprived areas; 2.1% in the most affluent areas.

Children with SEND living in more deprived areas are more likely to be recorded in the National Pupil Database (NPD) with less well-defined, more commonly documented SEND conditions ‘Speech, Language and Communication Needs;’ ‘Moderate Learning Difficulties;’ and ‘Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties’:

• Around 32% are recorded with ‘Speech, Language and Communication Needs’ in the most deprived areas; 25% in the most affluent areas.
• Around 20% are recorded with ‘Moderate Learning Difficulties’ in the most deprived areas; 15% in the most affluent areas.
• Around 18% are recorded with ‘Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties’ in the most deprived areas; 15% in the most affluent areas.

Primary school children living in deprived areas are less likely to be allocated higher-level statutory SEND support through an EHCP:

• Among children from low-income families - those recorded as eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) - around 4.75% have an EHCP in the most deprived areas, compared to 5.75% in the most affluent areas.
• Among all children with any SEND, about 17.5% have an EHCP in the most deprived areas, compared to 22% in the most affluent areas. This pattern holds for all children and FSM-eligible children.

The report says: “Findings overall support recent statements during a session on SEND by the Education Select Committee that ‘a massive rationing process’ is taking place, and that there are ‘huge high needs deficits.’ They indicate that there is unmet need for support and provision among children living in more deprived areas and suggest that additional resourcing and funding is needed.”

Previous research has already shown that processes involved for parents and carers in accessing tailored support for their child are often resource-heavy, stressful, and adversarial – requiring them to actively access and fight for provision. Appeal and hearing rates for an EHCP in areas with lower socio-economic status are significantly smaller than in the least deprived areas.

The report concludes: “What is worrying about this is that it once more indicates under-appeals and consequential unmet need in more deprived areas, rather than any reverse of this. This is because appealing for necessary provision for their child’s SEND is a system fraught with ‘confusion…bureaucratic nightmares, buck-passing and a lack of accountability,’ with which parents and carers with capacity engage through necessity rather than active desire.”

Dr Campbell commented: “These findings suggest that the government’s recently revealed plans to reduce spending on specialist provision are a move in the wrong direction. Until the wider primary education system is made significantly more inclusive, cuts to EHCPs are likely only to worsen unmet need. This may further damage children’s experiences and is likely to hit those in deprived areas particularly hard."

Inequalities in provision for primary children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) by local area deprivation was published by CASE on 13 November 2023. You can read it in this link. 

CASE News
New blog post: A half-baked early years funding policy risks negatively impacting children

While the Chancellor’s pledge to invest in early years childcare is a positive step, there remain serious questions about whether the resources are sufficient, and whether the current funding and provision model is the best one available. Policymaking on the fly is not the way to develop services that work for young children and their families, argues Kitty Stewart in this LSE British Politics and Policy new blog post.

CASE News
Upcoming event: Of Boys and Men: New challenges for gender equality

Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute

Thursday 23 March 6.30pm to 8.00pm. Online and in-person public event. The Auditorium, Centre Building.

Speakers:
Dr Richard V. Reeves, Senior Fellow in Economic Studies and Director of the Future of the Middle Class Initiative, Brookings Institution
Dr Abigail McKnight, Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE), LSE

Chair:
Professor Nicola Lacey, School Professor of Law, Gender and Social Policy, LSE Law School

Profound economic and social changes of recent decades have left many men at a disadvantage in areas like higher education. Many previous attempts to treat this condition have made the same fatal mistake - of viewing the problems of men as a problem with men. In his new book, Richard V Reeves explores how the male malaise is the result of deep structural challenges and societal issues. Richard draws on a careful analysis of social, economic, and demographic trends; current discussions on gender in psychology, public policy, economics and sociology; as well as on interviews with men and women, girls and boys.

To attend in-person: See here for further details. No ticket or pre-registration is required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

To attend online: Register for this event on Zoom.

CASE News
Dr Kitty Stewart has been appointed as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences

Congratulations to Dr Kitty Stewart, Associate Director of CASE and Associate Professor of Social Policy, has been newly conferred as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences following her nomination by the Social Policy Association. The Academy’s Fellowship is made up of distinguished individuals from academic, public, private and third sectors, across the full spectrum of the social sciences. Academy Fellows are conferred following an independent peer review process by the Academy’s Nominations Committee which recognises their excellence, impact, and wider contributions.

SPA Chair, Professor Ann Marie Gray said: “We are delighted Dr Kitty Stewart has been appointed as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences following her nomination by the Social Policy Association. This is deserving recognition of the excellence of her work and her substantial contribution to the social sciences for public benefit.” The Academy of Social Sciences’ press release and list of all Spring 2023 Fellowship appointments can be read here.

CASE News
Child Poverty Solutions For Finland - a review of international policies in selected countries

CASE was commissioned by the Itla Children’s Foundation in Finland to conduct a review of published international evidence on policies and programmes designed to reduce child poverty. Child income poverty rates in Finland are low by international standards but concerns about elevated risks for some groups of children remain - in particular children of migrants, children in larger families and children in lone parent families. This review, by Irene Bucelli and Abigail McKnight set out to explore the effectiveness and relevance of child poverty solutions adopted in other countries. Read the review here.

CASE News
Intergenerational support: evidence briefing

A new Intergenerational support: evidence briefing summarises key findings on practical and financial exchanges between parents and their adult children, and sets out policy implications. This is based on work by Eleni Karagiannaki, Tania Burchardt and others on a project led by Fiona Steele (Department of Statistics, LSE. Read the briefing here.

CASE News
Community groups are a lifeline in the cost-of-living crisis

New research from LSE Housing has shown that many community groups originally set up to provide support during the pandemic have become a central part of the local response to the cost-of-living crisis.  These organisations are doing incredible work in communities, but are often volunteer-led, with limited funding. Yet statutory services are relying on them more and more to provide food, clothing and other essentials during the Cost-of-Living crisis. Read more in the British Politics and Policy at LSE blog here. 

The full research report by Ellie Benton and Anne Power, Community Responses to the Cost-of-Living Crisis can be found here.