A CHARITABLE project founded by Manchester United’s co-owner has been quietly helping to improve the lives of primary school children living in some of the most deprived parts of the UK for the past five years.
With a focus on a new cohort of primary schools, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Forgotten 40 is now hoping to help lessen the impact of poverty for hundreds of other children in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Durham, Birmingham, Sunderland, Fleetwood and The Wirral.
“We are so proud of this project,” said Brian Padgett, a former HMI inspector, retired headteacher and member of Sir Jim’s Forgotten 40 team. “It is the best and most effective anti-poverty project I have ever witnessed in 50 years working with schools serving disadvantaged areas.”
The Forgotten 40 charity was launched in 2020 after INEOS chairman Sir Jim, and company co-founders Andy Currie and John Reece read an article about child poverty in the UK.
After a year-long pilot scheme involving 20 schools, 100 headteachers, serving some of Britain’s most deprived communities, were chosen to receive a gift of up to £20,000 a year from INEOS and trusted to spend it wisely on helping children build confidence and discover that their futures could be bigger than their circumstances.
Over the years, those headteachers have used INEOS’ money to expose their pupils to things they had never experienced before.
“The support from Forgotten 40 was truly life-changing for our children,” said Iain Parks, a former Liverpool headteacher who is now director of education for the Diocese of Blackburn. “I saw children flourish because of it.”
For the first time in their lives, children tasted ice cream, felt sand between their toes, cooked meals with their parents, watched the sun set, built dens, and slept under the stars.
Others were blown away by learning to play a musical instrument, and trips to the theatre, museums, and the Lake District.
Iain, who was head at St Mary and St Paul’s Primary in Knowsley, said all children needed to feel that the future belonged to them.
“We need to show children what’s out there and what the world has to offer,” he said. “But we also need to show them the effort that is needed to get there.”
At the heart of INEOS’ Forgotten 40 project is trust.
“We know from experience that headteachers are often best placed to know what their children and families need,” said Brian. “That’s why INEOS trusted them to do what was right for their children and families.”
Some headteachers, involved in the initial project, used funding to buy beds for children who were sleeping on sofas. Others topped up families’ electricity meters to help them cope with the rising cost of living.
“It has been incredibly humbling for us as a team to see how these headteachers have been helping,” said Brian.
Twenty new headteachers have now been signed up.
Last week they met the Forgotten 40 team for the first time at a two-day conference at the home of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team in Brackley.
Once INEOS, which is Mercedes’ principal partner, has received the teachers’ proposed initiatives, they will each be gifted £20,000 to support their children and families during the 2026/2027 school year.