MORE needs to be done to help disadvantaged young people to access universities, bishops have said.

The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, and the Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Pete Wilcox, contributed to a debate in the House of Lords on 14 November, on a report by Universities UK, Opportunity, growth and partnership: A blueprint for change, published at the end of September.

Bishop Treweek, who is a pro-chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire, said that she welcomed “the report’s analysis that, to meet the challenge and widen participation, universities, schools, and colleges should and could work better together to improve outcomes.

“I long to see learning communities in which every member can flourish. To do that, we need to work hard to break down the barriers that prevent people accessing university, be they issues of disability, age, ethnicity, or religion. We need to be intentional about the things that will enable this, and to think long term. Initiatives such as reduced offers for disadvantaged students can and do help.”

Dr Wilcox said that the costs of going to university, such as fees and housing, “are simply unsustainable for a growing number. . .

“We are seeing a rise in the number of potential students who cannot afford to study or whose studies are significantly compromised by the obligation to pursue simultaneously a demanding burden of paid work. . . It is unacceptable to restrict equality of opportunity in this way.”

Matters were made worse, he said, by the fact that the Special Support Grant had been abolished in 2016, and, since 2007, the household-income threshold, which determines access to the maximum maintenance loan, had been frozen at £25,000 a year. “This has meant that the percentage of the student population accessing a full maintenance loan has dropped from 56.6 per cent in 2012-13 to 37.5 per cent in 2021-22.”

Dr Wilcox welcomed the report’s recommendation that maintenance grants be reinstated for the most disadvantaged students and that maintenance loans should rise in line with inflation.