THERE is a serious 'postcode lottery' for poor children's life chances within the North-East and North Yorkshire - even within districts with very similar socio-economic populations - a new report has revealed.

A surprise finding of the survey also shows that outcomes for disadvantaged children in two of the region's wealthier areas, Northumberland and Hambleton, North Yorkshire, are among the worst in the country.

Overall the Government's Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission report, which ranks each of England's 324 local authority areas on the chances of a poor child doing well at school and getting a good job, shows London and its commuter belt is performing best and the Midlands and East of England worst.

The North-East has no local authorities in the top 20 per cent performing local authority areas for social mobility but has three out of its 12 council areas in the bottom fifth. They are Hartlepool, which is 60th worst performing area in the country, Northumberland, 63rd and Middlesbrough, 65th.

North Yorkshire has two even worse performing areas. Scarborough is the 13th worst area in the country for children's social mobility while Hambleton, which includes the relatively well-off towns of Northallerton, Thirsk and Stokesley, is 44th worst.

Hambleton has a negative score of -43.5 per cent for having, 'low ranking given area deprivation.' That means that the Government believes it should be doing much better for poorer children given levels of affluence in the area.

The report said: "Some parts of the North-East have relatively good education outcomes for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds but progress is hampered by relatively weak local job markets, making it difficult for these young people to translate good performance at school into a decent job."

The survey makes clear that there are big differences within the region. It said: "Very similar areas that are only a few miles apart do very differently on social mobility despite having similar challenges. For example, Newcastle is ranked 128 out of 324 and Middlesbrough is ranked 260 out of 324.

"These authorities are within 40 miles of each other and are on the face of it quite similar cities.

"A far higher proportion of disadvantaged children in Newcastle attend a good or outstanding secondary school (82 per cent compared with 45 per cent), adults working in Newcastle are paid on average an extra £40 per week than those working in Middlesbrough and there is a higher proportion of professional jobs in Newcastle (30 per cent against 25 per cent.)"

Former Darlington MP Alan Milburn, who is chairman of the Social Mobility Commission, said: "The index lays bare the local lottery in social mobility. It gets beneath the surface of a crude north-south divide and calls into question some of the conventional wisdom about where disadvantage is now located."