SOCIAL MARKET FOUNDATION 16 Frank Young and Danniel Lilley, ‘Breaking the Care Ceiling’ (Civitas, September 2023), https://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/Breaking-the-care-ceiling.pdf. 17 Department for Business Innovation & Skills, ‘The Benefits of Higher Education Participation for Individuals and Society: key findings and reports’, October 2013, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7ba5fee5274a7318b9004a/bis-13-1268- benefits-of-higher-education-participation-the-quadrants.pdf 18 John Simes, ‘Widening Participation in Higher Education, Academic Year 2021/22’, GOV.UK, 13 July 2023, https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/widening- participation-in-higher-education. 19 UCAS, ‘Next Steps: What Is the Experience of Students from a Care Background in Education?’, November 2022, https://www.ucas.com/about-us/news-and-insights/ucas- reports/next-steps-what-experience-students-care-background-education-report. 20 Simes, ‘Widening Participation in Higher Education, Academic Year 2021/22’. 21 Young and Lilley, ‘Breaking the Care Ceiling’. 22 UCAS, ‘Next Steps: What Is the Experience of Students from a Care Background in Education?’ 23 Office for Students, ‘Access and Participation Data Dashboard’ (Office for Students, 21 March 2023), Worldwide, https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/. 24 Office for Students, ‘New data highlights equality gaps for estranged students’, November 2020, https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/press-and-media/new- data-highlights-equality-gaps-for-estranged-students 25 Department for Education, ‘Children’s Social Care: Stable Homes, Built on Love Government Consultation Response’, September 2023, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/650966a322a783001343e844/Children_s_S ocial_Care_Stable_Homes__Built_on_Love_consultation_response.pdf. 26 Bree Waine, ‘Outcomes for Children in Need, Including Children Looked after by Local Authorities in England, Reporting Year 2023’, Explore education statistics, 18 April 2024, https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/outcomes-for-children- in-need-including-children-looked-after-by-local-authorities-in-england. 27 Elaine Drayton and Laura van der Erve, ‘The Impact of Student Loan Minimum Eligibility Requirements’ (Institute for Fiscal Studies, 27 April 2022), https://ifs.org.uk/publications/impact-student-loan-minimum-eligibility-requirements. 28 Young and Lilley, ‘Breaking the Care Ceiling’. 29 Neil Harrison, ‘Moving on up: Pathways of Care Leavers and Care-Experienced Students into and through Higher Education’ (NNECL & University of the West of England, November 2017), https://www2.uwe.ac.uk/faculties/CAHE/Documents/Research/MovingOnUp.pdf. 30 ‘Applicant Index Report’, Unite Students, 15 July 2024, https://www.unitegroup.com/applicant-index-report. 31 Because of the relatively small sample of care leaver applicants, we have pooled the two most recent years to ensure the inferences are more robust. 32 Jonathan Neves et al., ‘Student Academic Experience Survey 2024’, HEPI, 12 June 2024, https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/06/13/student-academic-experience-survey-2024/. 33 Jacqueline Stevenson et al., ‘Positive Impact? What Factors Affect Access, Retention and Graduate Outcomes for University Students with a Background of Care or Family Estrangement?’ (Sheffield Hallam University, February 2020). 68