SOCIAL MARKET FOUNDATION access to elite universities: in 2021/22, only 2% of care leavers were admitted to the most selective ‘high tariff’ universities, compared to 14% of non-care leavers. Figure 2: Destination of 19 year olds, England 2021/22 2% 12% 14% 33% High Tariff institution 86% Other HE Not in HE 53% Care Leavers Non Care Leavers Source: Department for Education, Widening Participation in Higher Education As Figure 3 shows, those numbers actually represent an improvement on the recent past. The proportion of care leavers going onto university has gradually increased over the course of a decade or so, up from 9% in 2009/10. The proportion going on to high tariff universities has doubled, albeit from a very low base. This partly reflects a more general increase in participation: the proportion of non care leavers going into HE rose from 34% to 47% over this period. It also reflects a rise in number of children in care: the proportion of school leavers that were care leavers rose 26% between 2009/10 and 2021/22. Nevertheless, care leavers’ share of student numbers rose by more, especially in top tier universities. The share of HE students that are care leavers rose 51%, and the share of high tariff university students rose 113%. 16