Using risk profiling to help address the £81 billion cost of illiteracy in the UK.

Reading is a powerful activity, yet 16.4% of UK adults are reported to have very poor literacy skills. The Northeast region experiences the highest prevalence of very poor literacy within UK working age adults, at 23%.

This study will analyse the relative importance of a range of personal and socio-economic characteristics identified as being associated with why some children achieve low reading progress in school using multiple regression analysis of secondary research data.

Following a systematic review of extant research, a biographical order blocked analysis of the relevant characteristics will be carried out to understand the links between these and reading ability, after taking into account prior phases in the individual's life.

The same predictors will also be used in blocked logistic regression modelling based on categories of reading progress as outcomes.

These analysis techniques will then be applied to a second dataset, 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), to test the conclusions drawn from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) and identify any areas of weakness or uncertainty.

A longitudinal analysis of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) will then be carried out to understand the long-term outcomes of individuals who had received low reading scores during primary school.

This research will, therefore, provide knowledge and understanding that will help educators and policymakers target support towards children at risk of failing to achieve functional literacy at a very early stage.

Through early, focused support, this approach aims to minimise the number of functionally illiterate individuals and the associated cost