Social Mobility in Great Britain: State of the Nation, 2016

From gov.uk, download pdf copy (212 pages)

"This report assesses the progress that Great Britain has made towards improving social mobility".

From the Foreword:

"Britain has a deep social mobility problem. In this annual report we present compelling new evidence that for this generation of young people in particular, it is getting worse not better. Low levels of social mobility are impeding the progress of not only the poorest in our society. We identify four fundamental barriers that are holding back a whole tranche of low- and middle-income families and communities in England: an unfair education system, a two-tier labour market, an imbalanced economy and an unaffordable housing market. Taking down these barriers will require a new, long-term approach. It will also mean challenging some long-held assumptions that have held sway for too long in public policy. There are no easy fixes when it comes to cracking Britain’s social mobility problem. Change will take time. The next decade should be one of deep-seated social reform. In this, our fourth annual report, we propose an ambitious programme of change which we hope the new government will capture in a ten-year programme of social reform".