1. Social Mobility in the UK in 2017
5 July 2017
David Johnston
Chief Executive – Social Mobility Foundation
Commissioner – Social Mobility Commission
1
2. Britain’s elite attendance at independent schools (Elitist
Britain? 2014)
2
Senior judges 71%
Senior armed forces
officers
62%
Diplomats 53%
Sunday Times Rich
List
44%
TV, film and music 44%
Newspaper
columnists
43%
Radio 4 influential
women
42%
Public body chairs 45%
Permanent Secretaries 55%
Commons Select
Committee Chairs
57%
Cabinet 36%
Lords 50%
3. Britain’s elite attendance at independent schools
3
Cricket – England 33%
Public body CEOs 34%
MPs 33%
Pop stars 22%
FTSE 350 CEOs 22%
Chief Constables/ Police &
Crime Commissioners
22%
University Vice-
Chancellors
20%
Rugby union – England,
Scotland and Wales
35%
BBC executives 26%
Local government
leaders
15%
Shadow cabinet 22%
Local government
CEOs
8%
4. Britain’s elite attendance at Oxbridge
4
Diplomats 50%
Public body chairs 44%
BBC executives 33%
Permanent secretaries 57%
Newspaper columnists 47%
Lords 38%
MPs 24%
Cabinet 59%
Shadow cabinet 33%
Senior judges 75%
Commons Select
committees chairs
37%
Public body CEOs 26%
5. Britain’s elite attendance at Oxbridge
5
University Vice-
Chancellors
14%
Sunday Times Rich List 12%
Local government CEOs 9%
Radio 4 influential
women
20%
FTSE 350 CEOs 18%
TV, film and music 11%
Local government
leaders
8%
Chief Constables/
Police & Crime
Commissioners
6%
Pop stars 0%
Rugby union – England,
Scotland and Wales
0%
6. Norwich vs St Albans (State of the Nation 2015)
• Men live 3 years less, women 2 years less
• Average salary of £19,382 vs £32,595
• Half the professional jobs, twice the
unemployment
• 43.8% 5 A-C at GCSE vs 75.9%
7. Early years (State of the Nation 2016 and Time for Change 2017)
-Gaps in time parents spend on educational activities
-Cost of childcare for 2 children higher than average
mortgage
-500,000 deprived children not school ready in last
decade
-On current trends, 15 years before all children are
school ready and 40 years to close attainment gap
-Use health/education £ to boost parenting programme
funding and test online courses
-Double Early Years Pupil Premium
-National focus on all children being school ready and
halving the attainment gap by 2027
7
8. Schools
-Spending on education is 50% higher than in 1997 but
income gap >than ethnicity or gender gaps
-Two thirds of FSM children do not get good GCSES
(but 52% more likely to get them in London)
-Non-FSM children 38% more likely to reach the
expected standard at 11 and 85% more likely at 16
-By 2027 the rest of the country should get its schools
to the level of London’s
-Require 10 areas with a fifth of the children in failing
schools to become part of area wide initiatives so none
are by 2020
-Effective national programme of incentives to retain
and redeploy good teachers 8
9. Youth
-16,000 different qualifications for 16-19 year olds but
no information on which have best outcomes
-97% of 19-24 year olds who start apprenticeships do so
at qualification level they’ve completed previously
-At current rates, 120 years before FSM young people to
achieve same A-Level/equivalent and 80 years before
HE participation gap closes
-Judge schools on the destinations of the pupils that
attend them
-Low-quality apprenticeships should lose the title
‘apprenticeship’ and not be advertised on govt portal
-Social mobility league table on university
access/retention/progression 9
10. Working lives
-4% of doctors, 6% of barristers and 11% of journalists
are from working class backgrounds
-c.70,000 interns at any one time, up to 1/3 unpaid
-Only 1 in 10 who were low-paid in 2001 were not by
2011
-Only 1 in 8 low-income children likely to become a high
earner
-More employers who provide the living wage rather
than just the minimum wage
-Greater focus on progression and development of new
skills
-Legal ban on unpaid internships
-Employers to be ranked on new social mobility index 10
11. Norfolk (Social Mobility Index 2016; Bottom tier authorities ranked 1- best to 324 - worst)
11
Overall Early
years
Schools Youth Adulthood
Great Yarmouth 297 112 294 310 285
King’s Lynn/West
Norfolk
293 172 307 211 267
North Norfolk 280 172 66 315 321
Norwich 323 250 311 308 307
South Norfolk 110 193 139 101 66
