Social mobility

Social mobility is a complex agenda which ties together a number of key policy areas affecting children and young people such as poverty and exclusion, health inequality, aspirations, education and employment, and community empowerment.

There is a growing concern about the lack of social mobility in the UK. Amidst an economic downturn, social mobility has emerged at a central theme in public debates, fuelled by a number of recent developments including the Government‟s White Paper New Opportunities, the Aspirations and attainment in deprived communities research by the Social Exclusion Task Force, the Social Mobility Commission set up by the Liberal Democrats as a well as a number of related recommendations and evidence reviews published in the past year.

Speaking Out organised a roundtable seminar on 3 March 2009 in Peterborough to provide an opportunity for cross-sector partners working to improve outcomes for children and young people to explore the concept of social mobility, its dimensions and how they affect delivering services.

The group examined how mobility relates to equality, how it impacts on children and young people‟s life chances, aspirations, personal and social development, with a focus on the voluntary and community sector‟s role within this agenda. Participants also discussed new approaches to increase social fluidity and improve the life chances of all children and young people as part of a partnership agenda.

The report sets out key recommendations to Government that have been developed from participants contributing to the roundtable and Speaking Out's ongoing work to promote equality for children, young people and their families in partnership with the voluntary and community youth sector.

The key recommendations detailed in the report are:

Recommendation 1: In recognising the link between inequality, redistribution and social mobility, the Government should make the case for a more progressive tax and benefits system to fund progressive policies to enable equal life chances for all children, young people and families, and reduce inequality.

Recommendation 2: Government should provide more sustainable support for long-term developmental projects, provided by the voluntary and community sector, which work to improve intragenerational mobility.

Recommendation 3: Government should make better use of the voluntary and community sector’s development of young people’s skills and capacity building work, which provide routes into employment as well as expanding children and young people’s horizons and building up their aspirations.

Recommendation 4: Government should invest in the voluntary and community sector’s work in building bridges within and between communities, through local infrastructure networks which support the sector’s engagement in local strategic partnerships.

To find out more, download the full report >> Children and young people's social mobility (PDF)

Supporting documents >> YMCA England Developmental Assets briefing paper (PDF) and presentation (PDF)