This document summarizes data on social mobility in the UK. It shows that many positions of power and influence in Britain are held by people who attended private schools, with rates as high as 71% for senior judges. It also provides data on gaps in educational attainment and outcomes between children from wealthy versus poor backgrounds. For example, only 43.8% of students in Norwich achieve 5 A-C grades at GCSE compared to 75.9% in St Albans. The document calls for initiatives to improve early childhood education, school quality in disadvantaged areas, apprenticeships and career progression to improve social mobility.

1. Social Mobility in the UK in 2017
5 July 2017
David Johnston
Chief Executive – Social Mobility Foundation
Commissioner – Social Mobility Commission
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2. Britain’s elite attendance at independent schools (Elitist
Britain? 2014)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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

12. Contact details
david.johnston@socialmobility.org.uk
www.socialmobility.org.uk
https://twitter.com/socialmobilityf
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/social-
mobility-commission
https://twitter.com/smcommission
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