Funding to expand research on education inequality

A programme using UK public sector data to uncover insights on everything from the cost of living to children’s education and early cancer diagnosis has been given a five-year extension with £168m of funding. 

UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI’s) investment in Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK) will continue its ground-breaking UK-wide data-linking and research projects. 

Since launching in 2018, its work has had transformational impact on a wide range of public health, justice, economic and social care issues.

In education, ADR UK has worked with the Department for Education to link a wide range of data with National Pupil Database. This has been critical in tackling inequality in education and life chances, helping to boost social mobility and shatter glass ceilings for those too often held back.

This continued investment will expand ADR UK’s fellowship and PhD programmes, strengthening links between researchers and policymakers and enhancing collaboration across social research. 

In education, ADR UK and the Department for Education are linking cross-sectoral data to the National Pupil Database to explore inequalities from childhood through to the labour market. 

The funding also supports ADR UK’s training and capacity-building programme, equipping researchers with skills to use linked administrative data for public good. A synthetic data initiative will be scaled up, enabling researchers to test analyses before accessing secure data. 

Additionally, a major new dataset will link economic records across government departments, offering insights to help drive economic growth and improve living standards. 

Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle said: “Data is absolutely vital when making key policy decisions to help transform lives for the better, and the Administrative Data Research partnership has shown that in practice, from helping to secure pay rises for millions, smashing the glass ceiling for underrepresented groups and cracking down on crime that blights our streets.

“By investing £168m of Government funding to extend this programme, we are backing our world class researchers to build on this work, unlocking more of the data they need to improve lives and deliver the economic growth and opportunity as part of our Plan for Change.”