POOLE is among the worst places in the country for children to escape poverty, according to the latest government research.

The borough has been identified as a 'social mobility coldspot' falling among the lowest ranking 20 per cent of authorities in the country in a new social mobility index.

Borough of Poole strategic director Jan Thurgood said: "This research published by government is very useful to us as it helps the council to understand the life chances of children from disadvantaged backgrounds in terms of their performance at school and employment secured in adult life.

"We will use this research as a source of information when looking into this issue and will analyse the data further in the coming weeks to consider how it can help us learn from best practice nationally.”

The newly published research from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission compares the chances that a child from a disadvantaged background will do well at school and get a good job across each of the 324 local authority district areas of England - ranking them in order.

Indicators taking into account include educational outcomes from early years, to college and higher education, and opportunities in local job and housing markets.

Poole is among the worst performing local authorities in the country, but the report, which highlights the "local lottery of social mobility" shows Bournemouth in the mid range between the 40th to 50th percentiles.

Bournemouth is also the 29th best local authority in terms of the standard of schools available.

The research also considers the level of deprivation in each area - and again Poole fares badly - coming comes in the bottom 10 per cent of local authorities social mobility relative to its affluence and 15th worst in the country overall.

The index places the borough in Performance Zone 4 reflecting "a weak performance across the board", but it performs particularly badly in the measure of youth social mobility where it is the 29th worst.

Indicators used to assess this include the proportion of young people eligible for free school meals who achieve two or more A-levels.

Social Mobility and Child Poverty Chairman Alan Milburn said: "It is shocking that many of the richest areas of the country are the ones failing their poorest children the most.

"This report is a wake-up call for educators and employers as well as policy-makers, both local and national."

Meanwhile, Purbeck scores badly, the 28th worst in the country, for adulthood social mobility.

According to the report this means young people who secure good educational outcomes are struggling to translate them into good adulthood outcomes in this area.