Introduction

At EDUK, we believe that equality must encompass all aspects of identity – including socio-economic background. While race, disability, gender and sexuality are commonly recognised in inclusion strategies, class and economic disadvantages are often neglected.

Yet socio-economic inequality impacts educational attainment, health outcomes, employment opportunities and wellbeing and disproportionately affects many groups protected under the Equality Act 2010. This blog explores how organisations can recognise and respond to socioeconomic diversity with compassion, awareness and structural change.

Why Socioeconomic Diversity Matters

We often use shorthand labels like “working class” or “middle class,” but these terms can reinforce hierarchy and stigma. Describing someone as “lower class” implies deficiency, while “upper class” suggests superiority. These constructs ignore the structural barriers that shape opportunity and reinforce inequality.

People from lower-income backgrounds often face challenges that are invisible to others:

• Fewer academic opportunities due to under-resourced schools
• Pressures to earn early, work during studies, or care for family
• Stigma linked to accent, clothing, or perceived ‘professionalism’
• Limited access to internships, networks, or informal mentoring

Guidance Across Sectors

Schools, Colleges, and Universities

• Avoid deficit thinking: Celebrate working-class resilience and resourcefulness.
• Support access and transition: Offer bursaries, travel passes, free meals, and mentoring to level the playing field.
• Challenge elitism: Ensure curriculum reflects diverse experiences.
• Representation matters: Recruit staff and governors from varied backgrounds.

Workplaces

• Rethink recruitment: Remove unnecessary degree requirements.
• Support progression: Provide sponsorship and stretch opportunities.
• Culture counts: Train managers on communication and social norms.
• Create brave spaces: Encourage conversations around class.

Police and Criminal Justice

• Build trust: Understand over-policing in disadvantaged communities.
• Diversify recruitment: Target underrepresented areas.
• Understand lived realities: Include class in bias training.
• Fair enforcement: Avoid criminalising poverty.

Housing and Social Care

• Human-centered service: Treat service users with dignity.
• Recognise dignity: Avoid ‘othering’ language.
• Access to opportunity: Promote digital and community inclusion.

NHS and Health Services

• Health equity: Recognise poorer patients face worse outcomes.
• Avoid assumptions: No judgment based on class.
• Employability: Support lower-income staff in entering and progressing.

Socioeconomic Inclusion Self-Assessment Checklist

Use the checklist below to reflect on your current practice:

Statement	Good Practice	Needs Improvement
We collect and analyse socioeconomic background data.
Our recruitment practices remove barriers for working-class applicants.
We support internal progression and remove ‘polish’ bias.
We offer paid internships, apprenticeships, and work experience.
Our staff training includes understanding class-based stigma.
We offer financial or practical help for those who need it.
People feel safe sharing their background without judgment.
Our policies address class alongside race, disability, and gender.
Senior leaders reflect diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
We avoid class-based stereotypes in language and assumptions.

Poverty and Protected Characteristics: The Overlap

Socioeconomic disadvantages are not distributed evenly across society. It intersects powerfully with the protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act 2010. For example:

• Around 46% of people in poverty in the UK live in a household where someone is disabled (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2023).
• Black and marginalised ethnic households are over twice as likely to experience deep poverty compared to White British households (Social Metrics Commission, 2022).
• Women particularly single mothers are more likely to be in low-paid, insecure work, and face higher rates of in-work poverty.
• Trans and non-binary people face workplace discrimination that impacts financial stability and long-term career progression.
• Older people and young adults from low-income families are at greater risk of digital exclusion and housing precarity.

Use Inclusive Terms Like:

• People from lower-income or low-income backgrounds
• People with experience of poverty or economic disadvantages
• People from working-class backgrounds (if self-identified)
• People who face socioeconomic barriers or inequities
• Individuals from under-resourced communities

Avoid Terms Like:

• ‘Lower class’, ‘underclass’ – These imply inferiority or hierarchy
• ‘Redneck’, ‘trailer trash’, ‘chav’, ‘thug’ – These are classist slurs that perpetuate stigma
• ‘Poor people’ – Overly simplistic and may define someone solely by their financial status
• ‘Disadvantaged’ (used without context) – Can suggest helplessness or victimhood
• ‘Working poor’ – May carry a patronising tone; prefer ‘in-work poverty’ if referencing structural issues

Inclusive language avoids making assumptions about people’s capabilities, values, or identities based on their economic background. It’s about framing people in terms of their strengths and context not reducing them to labels rooted in prejudice or stereotype.