Committee publication · Correspondence · 25 February 2026 · HC 1373
Correspondence from the Social Mobility Foundation, re data collection, dated 16.02.2026
From: Women and Equalities Committee
Inquiry: Work of the Social Mobility Commission (SMC) (2024-26 session)
Summary
The Social Mobility Foundation writes to the Women and Equalities Committee following oral evidence on 10 December 2025, setting out why mandatory socioeconomic background data collection is essential. The Foundation argues that organisations with 250+ employees should be required to collect and report socioeconomic data to measure social mobility progress, citing evidence from Civil Service, KPMG, Co-op and PwC showing data-driven interventions close progression gaps and pay disparities.
Key findings
- Professionals from working-class backgrounds face a persistent 12% pay gap (£6,000) compared to peers from privileged backgrounds; KPMG found a 19% progression gap for lower socioeconomic background employees, taking almost a year longer to reach certain grades
- Civil Service Fast Stream representation from lower socioeconomic backgrounds increased from 4.2% (2016) to 20% (2023) through data collection and granular analysis
- Data gaps exist in apprenticeships and further education (unlike higher education via HESA) and government-funded organisations (Arts Council collects for some, but inconsistently across DCMS arms-length bodies)
- Industrial Strategy sector plans lack clear objectives to measure socioeconomic diversity outcomes; Foundation urges socioeconomic data reporting alongside ethnicity and disability in mandatory pay gap reporting
- Socioeconomic background is defined using National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) based on highest earning parent's occupation; Social Mobility Commission provides established toolkit with standardised questions
Tone
FactualTopics
Key actors
Social Mobility Foundation, Sarah Owen MP, Women and Equalities Committee, The Bridge Group, Civil Service, KPMG, PwC, Co-op
Notable line
“Only 4.2% of Civil Service Fast Stream recruits were from a lower socioeconomic background (based on parental occupation), in”
Key Quotes
“Collecting and publishing more data on socioeconomic background is a necessary but not sufficient action in addressing social mobility. It is a fundamental first step in making progress to improve socioeconomic inclusion within the workforce.”
“Too often, the way companies act, either intentionally or unintentionally, excludes those who didn't go to the 'right' school, don't have the 'right' contacts, or the 'right' accent, mistaking these as markers of ability or performance.”
“Research shows that professionals from working-class backgrounds face a persistent pay gap of around 12% or £6,000 compared to their peers from more privileged backgrounds.”
“… we know that unless reporting is mandated in law, there will be little voluntary reporting. For example, although a number of large businesses publicly supported introducing gender pay gap reporting, very few employers voluntarily published data before the law changed …”
“We argue that it is better to introduce new data collection and reporting changes at the same time as ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting begins, as this will be far easier for employers to manage.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗