Three mayoral combined authorities are to receive £500,000 each to find ways locally to tackle inequality among children.

Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire and the West Midlands are to receive the funding and support from the Fair Education Alliance, a coalition involving charities and businesses.

The money will be used to support partnerships between mayors and local businesses, schools and charities to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This includes supporting work to identify ‘the root causes of educational inequity, map out activity and test and scale solutions tailored to regional needs’.

Fair Education Alliance co-chief executive, Gina Cicerone, said that collaboration between local experts is important to tackling inequality among children as ‘no single organisation or policy’ can fight the problem alone.

The alliance warns that children from low-income families are almost two years behind their peers by the end of secondary school.

‘I want young people to have the best start in life, no matter their background, and the backing of the Fair Education Alliance is a vote of confidence in our region that supports my mission to deliver just that,’ said West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker.

‘Investing in our young people in this way gives them the chance to achieve their full potential and help build our region's future prosperity’, he added.

South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard aims to use the money to help ‘unlock the potential of every young person, so everyone can stay near and go far’.

He added: ‘I’ve heard from young people about the challenges they face getting into education, jobs and training. Their message was loud and clear that far too often the support they need is patchy and hard to find’.