Top jobs are the preserve of small elite, says report

Nick Elvin

A new report suggests Britain is deeply elitist, with those educated at independent schools and Oxbridge dominating the UK’s most influential positions.

Research by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission looked at 4,000 business, political, media and public sector leaders.

Among the report’s findings, 71% of senior judges, 53% of diplomats, 50% of members of the House of Lords, 45% of public body chairs and 44% of the Sunday Times Rich List attended independent schools (compared to 7% of the population as a whole).

Meanwhile, 75% of senior judges, 59% of the cabinet, 57% of permanent secretaries, 50% of diplomats, 47% of newspaper columnists, 44% of public body chairs, 38% of members of the House of Lords and 12% of the Sunday Times Rich List attended Oxbridge (compared to less than 1% of the population as a whole).

Chair of the commission, The Rt Hon Alan Milburn, said: “We in the commission hope this report prompts a re-think in the institutions that have such a critical role to play in making Britain a country where success relies on aptitude and ability more than background or birth. To confront the challenges and seize the opportunities that Britain faces a broader range of experiences and talents need to be harnessed.

“The risk, however, is that the more a few dominate our country’s leading institutions the less likely it is that the many believe they can make a valuable contribution. A closed shop at the top can all too easily give rise to a ‘not for the likes of me’ syndrome in the rest of society.”

The report lists a number of measures employers could take to encourage equality. These include building long-term relationships with schools on mentoring, careers advice and insights into work; broadening the range of universities they recruit from and using school and university-blind applications; and building non-graduate routes, such as Higher Apprenticeships and school-leaver programmes.

Professor Michael Gunn, chair of the university think tank million+, said the inequality highlighted in the study was “disappointing”.

“Modern universities have a strong and solid track record of social mobility and access, presenting pathways to higher education for all and not just the upper echelons of society,” he added. “The emerging success stories of graduates from modern universities imply there is still the prospect of levelling the playing field and lessening the dominance of any ‘elite’.

“These findings indicate the need more than ever for the protection of student opportunity funding, which has enabled universities to adequately support students from disadvantaged backgrounds when entering higher education. To continue cutting funding exacerbates the inequality and further disadvantages those from different backgrounds.”