The Guardian’s Jessica Elgot’s cites findings from the Class ceiling report, the APPG on Social Mobility report.

MPs have called for a ban on unpaid internships, which they say unfairly penalise working-class young people who cannot spend long periods of time working for free to get into their chosen career.

More employers should also consider contextual recruitment, according to a report by members of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on social mobility. Under this system, firms are required to consider a candidate’s achievements in the context of their underprivileged background.

Leading figures in the arts and media, including Peter Bazalgette, chair of the Arts Council and ITV, told MPs that the growing expectation that young people will work for free or for less than the national minimum wage was the key barrier to a creative career for working-class young people.

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The inquiry followed findings by the education charity the Sutton Trust in 2016, which showed that the UK’s most high-profile jobs – from the entertainment industry to politics and journalism – were disproportionately populated by alumni of private schools and Oxbridge.

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Peter Lampl, founder and chair of the Sutton Trust, said employers – supported by the government – had to do more to improve diversity through recruitment practices, including greater use of contextual admissions. “Getting more graduates from low- and middle-income backgrounds to the top of the professions is vital both for social mobility and the economic success of the country,” he said.

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