What was the Opportunity Areas Programme?
What was the Opportunity Areas Programme?
In October 2016, Justine Greening (Secretary of State for Education – 2016-2018) unveiled a comprehensive social mobility package, with the Department for Education’s (DfE) Opportunity Areas programme at its core. Backed by £108 million in funding, and spread over 5 years, the programme aimed to tackle persistent regional inequalities by improving educational outcomes and broadening life chances for young people in 12 localities facing entrenched social and economic disadvantage.
Programme Rationale
The Opportunity Areas programme was introduced in response to stark regional disparities in educational attainment and economic opportunity. While over two-thirds of adults in many London boroughs hold degree-level qualifications, this falls to less than a fifth in coastal towns like Blackpool, post-industrial areas such as Doncaster, and many rural locations. These disparities highlight broader patterns of spatial inequality, particularly in post-industrial, coastal, and rural communities affected by acute social and economic challenges stemming from deindustrialisation and geographic isolation.
Areas Involved
The programme was rolled out in two phases: six areas were announced in October 2016 (Blackpool, Derby, North Yorkshire Coast, Oldham, West Somerset, and Norwich), followed by six more in January 2017 (Bradford, Doncaster, Fenland & East Cambridgeshire, Hastings, Ipswich, and Stoke-on-Trent). These locations spanned a diverse range of contexts – nine urban centres, three rural regions, and four coastal locations (with some falling into multiple categories). The inclusion of coastal and rural areas enabled the testing of place-based interventions in communities where isolation, weak transport links, and economic hardship have historically constrained educational outcomes.
An Area-Based Approach
The programme’s design reflected established principles of place-based intervention. Opportunity Areas employed an area-based approach, providing targeted funding, strategic oversight from the DfE, and local decision-making powers to support projects tailored to the specific needs of each area. Area-based approaches have a long history in the UK spanning from Harold Wilson’s Education Priority Areas in the 1960s to New Labour’s various area-based interventions of the 1990s.
Each Opportunity Area established a cross-sector partnership board, made up of local people – community organisations, business leaders, local authority representatives, education professionals, and other stakeholders. These boards worked alongside dedicated DfE Heads of Delivery and government-appointed independent chairs. Whilst lacking legal powers, the partnership boards provided local expertise, community insight, and accountability to support the programme’s implementation.
Together, the board and delivery teams developed local delivery plans which identified key barriers to social mobility, along with priorities, targets and actions. These plans were shaped through consultation with a wide range of local stakeholders, as well as national partners such as the Education Endowment Foundation – recognising that strengthening local skills bases required coordinated cross-sector action informed by local knowledge.
Duration of the Programme
Due to Treasury spending review cycles, the Opportunity Areas programme was initially funded for three years (Years 1-3), with two separate one-year extensions (Years 4 and 5). Each area published a three-year delivery plan outlining its key local priorities and targets.
In November 2019, an £18 million extension (Year 4) was announced to support young people in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, while continuing to work towards original programme goals and building on earlier learning. As part of this phase, each Opportunity Area was ‘twinned’ with a locality facing similar challenges to help extend the programme’s impact on education and employment outcomes. A further £18 million was allocated in May 2021 (Year 5), with a focus on embedding sustainable change.