23/06/2017

Accounting firm Grant Thornton heads the first-ever ‘Social Mobility Employer Index – Top 50’ – an initiative which aims to improve the UK’s dismal social mobility record by annually ranking the UK employers who are most open to recruiting and progressing talent from all backgrounds.

Run jointly by the Social Mobility Foundation (a charity) and the Social Mobility Commission (an independent statutory body), in partnership with the City of London Foundation, the Index is a response to

  • people from more affluent backgrounds taking a disproportionate number of the best jobs
  • employers disproportionately employing graduates who have gone to private schools and the best universities

The organisations featured on the index were selected from almost 100 employers, representing 17 sectors. They were judged by a panel of experts on their practices and procedures relating to young people, recruitment, selection and progression.

Lloyds Banking Group, for example, is 22nd in the Index and the top ranking retail bank, for its Scholars, Apprenticeship and School to Work programmes that aim to tackle social mobility and enable those from lower socio-economic backgrounds to succeed.

While applauding the 50 organisations on the index “for the progress they have made towards ensuring everyone has the opportunity to get in and get on”, the CE of the Social Mobility Foundation, David Johnston, pointed out that “… no one firm has cracked the issue and there is still progress to be made”.

This was emphasised by researchers working on the index, who found

  • under 1 in 5 of firms set mobility targets as part of their business strategy
  • while 96% say they will accept degrees from any university, 61% of successful applicants attended one of the UK’s 24 most selective universities
  • employers visit the 11 Russell Group universities more than they visit all the other universities combined ….
  • … and these 11 universities are all in the 20% with the lowest percentage of state school students
  • Oxford and Cambridge are visited more than 118 other universities combined