Government to create Whitehall team focused on socioeconomic outcomes amid Tory criticism
The UK government plans to set up a new Whitehall unit that will give public bodies a legal duty to consider the needs of lower-income families, while Conservatives warn it will add bureaucracy.
Bridget Phillipson, the minister for equalities, is set to unveil a plan that elevates social class to the same status as gender, race and disability in government policy. A new Whitehall unit, housed in the Office for Equality and Opportunity, will impose a legally binding socioeconomic duty on public bodies to improve outcomes for lower-income families and reshape how deprivation is measured. The initiative will see the Social Mobility Commission, established in 2010, shut down, with some of its staff transferring to the new team.
Conservative shadow equalities minister Joy Morrissey criticised the move, saying it will create extra bureaucracy, hinder growth and fuel class conflict. She pledged that the Tories would scrap the duty and restore merit-based principles. The proposal marks the first time a dedicated Whitehall team will target class-based inequality alongside existing units for race, gender, LGBT and disability issues.
