The need

Talent is evenly spread, opportunity is not!

The UK has a serious social mobility problem, and that this has exacerbated over recent years. Despite lots of funding and numerous innovative initiatives, a young persons prospects today are still largely defined by where they grew up and what their parents did.

While there are areas of very low youth social mobility throughout the country, the problem is not exclusively felt in those most deprived regions. Some of the richest places in England, such as West Berkshire and the Cotswolds, deliver worse outcomes for their disadvantaged young people than much poorer areas. Across the UK, only 4% of doctors, 6% of barristers and 11% of journalists are from working-class backgrounds (State of the Nation report on social mobility in Great Britain, 2016), and not a single young person on free school meals from anywhere in the North of England went to Oxbridge last year.

To effectively tackle this entrenched issue, it is vital that we look beyond the work of individual, short-term and standalone programmes, and think about how to create the systemic and structural change needed to ‘move the needle’ on this complex problem.

Add data and quote on youth social mobility

Add data and quote on youth unemployment

Add data and quote on white collar workforce and need for diversification of the workforce

Providing sustained social capital structures and systems for young people, particularly those most disenfranchised, is be significant priority in leveling the social mobility playing field. See our evidence page for more information.