Times columnist Rachel Sylvester cites Sutton Trust research in an article on social mobility.

Is there a diamond in the rough out there? Statistically it’s highly probable but the question is how much mud do I have to sift through in that population to find that diamond?” This is how one senior executive at a City law firm explains why he employs so few former state school pupils. It is brutally honest and, according to a new report, typical of a growing elitism in many of our successful companies.

An inquiry by the government’s social mobility and child poverty commission, published yesterday, concludes that there is now a “class ceiling” in the professions and that, far from meritocracy being on the rise, those from privileged backgrounds have tightened their grip in the past 30 years.

…….

This is not just about white-collar recruitment. Although Britain loves the nostalgia of Downton Abbey, voters would prefer real life to be like The X Factor, with people able to come from nowhere to succeed. And yet the Sutton Trust, which monitors social mobility, says it has “stalled” in recent years. Despite attempts to improve access to universities, a student from the richest fifth of neighbourhoods is still ten times more likely to go to a Russell Group university than a child from the poorest fifth.

Read her full column here (£)

An alternative perspective was provided by James Bartholomew in the Daily Telegraph, also quoting Sutton Trust research. His piece is here.

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