March 23, 2023 | Felicity Hallam

ENEI’s ‘Guest Webinar: What is Social Mobility?’

Paula Kemp, Head of Employer Engagement at the Social Mobility Commission, is pleased to be taking part as a guest speaker at ENEI’s upcoming event, ‘What is Social Mobility?’. During the event, Paula will speak about: Social mobility and the current position Why employers should get involved The impact and benefits How this can be […]

March 23, 2023 | Felicity Hallam

Westminster Education Forum’s ‘Priorities for raising attainment in England’s schools’

John Craven, Director of the Social Mobility Commission, is pleased to be delivering the keynote speech at Westminster Education Forum’s upcoming conference. This event will assess the next steps for raising educational attainment and addressing key factors contributing to the attainment gap across England’s schools. It takes place in the context of the Schools White […]

March 8, 2023 | Felicity Hallam

Employers’ Masterclass: Outreach and social mobility

Our May masterclass will cover how employers can use outreach to build an inclusive recruitment pipeline from the ground up, reaching and attracting a wide pool of talent. Engaging with candidates from a low socio-economic background through outreach enables you to: raise awareness of your organisation and industry to a wider reach of prospective employees […]

February 15, 2023 | Paula Kemp

Employers’ Masterclass: Accents in the Workplace

Accent is not directly relevant to work outputs.  To get hired, or to get ahead in your organisation, you would think that what you say – rather than how you say it – would be the most important factor.  However research does not reflect this. Join us at our April masterclass to explore how you can raise awareness of the issue of accent bias in your own organisation and what steps you can take to ensure that the focus is on the knowledge and skills of the employee or candidate, and not their accent.

February 13, 2023 | Felicity Hallam

Can we increase social mobility by improving young people’s access to information about the labour market value of HE and FE qualifications?

Join the SMC on Tuesday 28th February for an online event discussing the implications of our Interim Report, part of an action assigned to us by the government in relation to Inclusive Britain. Our report showed how different HE and FE qualifications can vary significantly in the labour market returns they offer, that those from […]

February 10, 2023 | Felicity Hallam

Employers’ Masterclass: The art of using storytelling to build inclusion

At the heart of every organisation is its people – all with a personal story to share that shapes and defines them.  Harnessing the power of personal storytelling as part of your Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) strategy is an effective way to build inclusion into your workplace culture and gain the trust of your employees […]

January 10, 2023 | Social Mobility Commission

Employers’ Masterclass: Using Apprenticeships to improve social mobility and build skills for life

Our next masterclass will explore the role of apprenticeships and how they can drive social mobility and develop skills for individuals and the workforce. Employers and training providers rely on apprenticeship schemes to provide new opportunities, upskill people from inside and outside their organisation and contribute to a more innovative, inclusive workforce. One of the […]

December 19, 2022 | Felicity Hallam

Business in the Community’s ‘Time to Act: Addressing Inequalities in Education’

John Craven, Director of the Social Mobility Commission is pleased to be a part of this Business in the Community (BITC) event. He will be sharing the key challenges faced in education and what businesses can be doing to help. As an employer, you can register for this BITC event to hear from John and […]

November 23, 2022 | Felicity Hallam

Employers’ Masterclass: Using workforce data to understand and improve social mobility

As an employer, data is one of the most important tools you have to understanding and improving diversity in your workplace, including social mobility. However, many employers report that collecting socio-economic data remains their biggest challenge. Collecting relevant and high quality data is necessary when challenging social mobility for a number of reasons. It allows […]

October 25, 2022 | Felicity Hallam

Employer Event: T Levels: What, why, where and how?

Keen to explore different ways of reaching a widening talent pool for your early in career hires?  T Levels may be just what you are looking for.   T Levels are an alternative to A levels and other further education courses. Equivalent to 3 A levels, a T Level focuses on vocational skills and can help […]

October 12, 2022 | Social Mobility Commission

In conversation with Ann Francke OBE: The building blocks of social mobility in the workplace

In our next event for employers we will be exploring the building blocks of social mobility with Ann Franke OBE, Chief Executive of the Chartered Management institute (CMI). Through our conversation with Ann, we will explore: how organisations can develop an social mobility strategy; the initial steps organisations should take to kickstart their socio-economic diversity journey; the role of senior leaders and managers in boosting inclusion and widening opportunities; how to ensure your organisation is an environment where all staff can thrive, regardless of background

August 31, 2022 | Paula Kemp

Social Mobility Employers Masterclass: Mentoring as a tool to support social mobility

To celebrate National Mentoring Day (27 October), our October employers’ masterclass will explore the importance of mentoring in supporting workplace progression and social mobility.
Mentoring partnerships can range from a localised, informal arrangement to a highly organised, official programme that spans across industries. Participants in mentoring programmes range from students from lower socio-economic backgrounds being matched with employees from a particular industry, to senior leaders being matched with junior members of staff in reverse mentoring programmes.

August 31, 2022 | Paula Kemp

Launch of the Social Mobility Commission’s Employer Consultation and Employer Advisory Group

During October 2022, the Social Mobility Commission (SMC) will be running our first ever Employer Consultation. We aim to understand what activities and interventions employers are finding most effective in improving social mobility within their organisations and communities. 

We will use the information provided to publish a “What Works” Report later this year, working closely with a newly established SMC Employer Advisory Group. This group will meet quarterly, and comprise 10-12 members across different sectors who have responded to the Consultation. 

August 31, 2022 | Paula Kemp

UN Global Compact Network UK’s ‘Social Mobility: Improving recruitment and boosting inclusion’ webinar

Guests on the second session of the ‘Social Mobility: Improving Business and Society’ webinar series, organised by the UN Global Compact Network UK, will explore how companies can establish clear social mobility strategies in the recruitment stage – including understanding the criteria and the different hiring models that leading companies use to hire their personnel to improve social mobility.

August 10, 2022 | Paula Kemp

The importance of culture and leadership – in conversation with I. Stephanie Boyce, President of the Law Society

The importance of culture and leadership to within an organisation to support social mobility cannot be underestimated. In conversation with I. Stephanie Boyce, President of the Law Society of England and Wales, we’ll be discussing how organisations can develop a culture that fosters inclusion and the role colleagues at all levels play.

January 14, 2022 | SMC Admin

Socio-economic background data collection Q&A: Hosted by the Socio-economic diversity taskforce 

Please note: this is an external event run by the City of London Corporation on behalf of the Socio-economic Diversity Taskforce.  The Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce has teamed up with the Social Mobility Commission to provide a data collection Q&A session, where we will answer frequent questions that employers (on the taskforce and beyond) have about data collection.   This […]

July 7, 2021 | SMC Admin

Assessing apprenticeships on their social mobility potential

Lindsay Turner Trammell, Head of Policy and Innovation at the Social Mobility Commission (SMC) will be one of the keynote speakers during a morning-long conference held by the Westminster Employment Forum on 20 May.