High Peak Liberal Democrats

Claire Tyler writes: Breaking through the class ceiling

Too often, success in accessing our top professions is down to the lucky accident of birth. Too often, structural inequalities mean that young children find themselves imprisoned on an inescapable path. By the age of five, there is a clear academic attainment gap between children from rich and poor families. This increases throughout school. The benefits of being born to wealthy parents do not just accrue to the talented - in fact, less-able, better-off kids are 35% more likely to become high earners than bright poor youngsters. The resultant domination of our top professions like medicine, law, finance and the arts by the elite and independently educated is staggering.

The case for social mobility is not just a moral one. It also makes business sense. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in 2010 found that failing to improve low levels of social mobility will cost the UK economy up to £140 billion a year by 2050. Some top businesses understand this, and are working hard to widen access.

More must be done to widen access to elite professions; on the part of schools, universities, businesses and the government. This is the conclusion of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Social Mobility, of which I am co-Chair, and which released its report this week. Titled 'The Class Ceiling', the report is the culmination of a detailed inquiry, with the help of the Sutton Trust, over the last year. The inquiry looked at the causes and extent of the problem, investigated what is currently being done, and recommended tangible policy actions.

The report has six broad areas of recommendations, and can be found in full here.

Three recommendations I will focus on here speak to three gaps visible between young people from rich and poor families: in academic attainment, in life skills, and in aspiration. Children eligible for free school meals achieve grades 20-30% lower at GCSE. The odds are stacked against youngsters in underperforming schools from disadvantaged neighbourhoods achieving well at school. Universities and firms should take this into account when reviewing applicants, by using contextualised recruitment. This isn't about penalising young people from wealthy backgrounds. It's about taking all the relevant factors into account when evaluating a job application. If an applicant from the worst school in the country achieves the same grades as one from the best school in the country, they have proved a greater level of self-motivation and resilience - character traits valued by employers. Looking at academic attainment in context allows firms to hire applicants with the greatest potential.

Second, the gap in outcomes between children from rich and poor families can't entirely be explained by the gap in academic attainment. Having graduated from university, students from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to go into professional jobs and, if they do, they are likely to be paid less. Character traits such as confidence, leadership and adaptability are highly sought after, and are not innate. Encouraging and facilitating work experience, volunteering and extra-curricular activities will help to develop the soft skills in which disadvantaged young people often lag behind their more affluent peers.

Third, as the inquiry repeatedly heard, firms can only recruit those who apply. Too often talented applicants are not aware that they could enter the top professions. Half of state schools in England have not had a single pupil that has even applied for medical school. Schools, universities and employers all have a role to play in challenging assumptions and raising aspirations. This can come through good careers advice and mentoring schemes, which can be transformative for young people.

The report draws many more conclusions about the challenges involved in widening access to professions, and recommendations to overcome them. I urge you to read it in full. When we allow the lottery of birth to determine young people's life chances we fail them. When we allow disadvantaged kids' potential to go untapped we fail ourselves.

* Claire Tyler, Baroness Tyler of Enfield, has been in the House of Lords since 2011, taking an active role in the areas of health and social care, welfare reform, social mobility, well-being, children and family policy, machinery of government and the voluntary sector. She is the Liberal Democrat member of the Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility, and co-chair of the APPG on Social Mobility

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