The Sutton Trust

🚨 NEW: Britain’s most powerful people are still 5x more likely to have been privately educated than the general population. Our brand-new research, Elitist Britain 2025, reveals that jobs in the media, business, charity, creative and public sectors remain dominated by those from private schools. The report analyses the education backgrounds of 6,000 leading people in top jobs across British society. We focused on 8 key areas: politics; business & wealth; media; Whitehall & public bodies; public servants; third sector & policy; creative industries; and sport. There has been significant social and political change since we last looked at elitism in 2019, but little has changed in this area. Only 7% of the population have been to private school, but 36% of people in top positions in this country went to fee-paying schools 👎 In some professions, the proportion of privately schooled leaders has actually increased since 2019 — including newspaper columnists and BBC executives 📈 Leaders who attended private schools are heavily overrepresented in major businesses with, 54% of the Sunday Times Young Power List (54%), 47% of chairs of FTSE 100 companies, 46% of property and landowners, and 43% of PR consultancy CEOs being privately educated. But elitism isn’t just an issue for big business. A third of charity CEOs attended a private school (34%) and almost 1 in 5 attended Oxbridge. The backgrounds of leading figures in the mainstream media also remain highly unrepresentative. Newspaper columnists are the most likely to have been educated privately, at 50%, followed by political commentators (47%), podcasters (45%), and BBC executives (38%). This contrasts starkly with high-profile influencers and content creators, who we've examined for the first time. 18% of them went to private school, with 68% attending state comprehensives 📊 The report also looks at the proportion of people who went to Oxford and Cambridge for university. We found that Britain’s elites are 21 times more likely to have attended Oxbridge than the general population. Click the link in our bio to read the full research 🖱️

🚨 Sir Keir Starmer’s new cabinet is the most representative – in terms of education backgrounds – ever recorded. This new cabinet marks a historic moment in British politics, with a record number of state-educated ministers and the lowest proportion of privately educated ministers since 1945. The majority of the new cabinet attended comprehensive schools, at 92%, with 4% attending grammar schools and 4% attending independent schools. In terms of university attendance, the cabinet are more likely to have attended a narrow range of elite universities than MPs as a whole, as well as the UK population. Of the Ministers in Keir Starmer’s cabinet, 40% went to Oxbridge, compared to 19% of Labour MPs, 29% of Conservative MPs, and 21% of Lib Dem MPs. As an undergraduate, Sir Keir Starmer went to the University of Leeds, a Russell Group institution. He continues the trend of every Prime Minister who has attended an English university since 1937 attending Oxford - where he got his postgraduate degree. Visit our website to read our full analysis the educational backgrounds of MPs in the House of Commons, as well as Ministers serving in the cabinet 👉

Unpaid internships undermine social mobility 👎 They're not accessible to people from less affluent backgrounds. Banning unpaid internships longer than 4 weeks would level the playing field for access to these transformational opportunities.

🚨 NEW: There is a ‘happiness gap’ between people born into different social classes, we have found. Our new research with @coopuk finds that wellbeing remains closely tied to the social status you’re born into, but social mobility helps to close most of this gap. The report explores whether getting ahead professionally makes you happier. It shows that people who move into higher status jobs than their parents are substantially happier than those who remain in lower socio-economic groups, reiterating the power of social mobility. This boost in wellbeing is likely explained by a combination of higher incomes and financial stability. Differences in access to higher education and levels of home ownership, as well as better health and increased leisure time, play a role. But employment status is the biggest factor. However, even those who have moved up the ladder don’t quite reach the high wellbeing levels of those who come from wealthier families to begin with. This might be down to some of the pressures and trade offs they have to make along the way, such as moving to a new area. Meanwhile those who start out from more privileged backgrounds seem to be protected from the negative impact to wellbeing if they move ‘downwards’. This could be because they have some financial security, or are making an active career choice. Higher education continues to have a positive impact on people’s long-term happiness and wellbeing. Graduates have greater happiness and wellbeing than non-graduates. We also found a connection between community belonging and wellbeing. Those who have a very strong sense of belonging were more than 13 times more likely to have high wellbeing than those with very weak belonging. This report shows that opportunity is closely linked to wellbeing. We’re calling on the Government to do more to break down both the social and economic barriers. Thank you to Co-op for supporting this vital piece of research. 🔗 Read the full report on our website through the link in our bio!

We kicked off our 2025/26 Careers Plus Tech & Digital programme with a launch event hosted by industry leader @microsoftuk , one of the programme’s key employer partners! The event began with a keynote speech from Jonathan Budden, General Manager, HR Strategy and Change, on ‘Why tech & digital?’. It also included a group project and presentations where our alumni were asked how they would use tech to solve a barrier students like themselves commonly face, a Q&A with Microsoft UK & Ireland CEO, Darren Hardman and the Sutton Trust CEO, Nick Harrison, culminating in networking with Microsoft staff and mentors. The event provided us with a great opportunity to kickstart this year’s programme, with tonnes of energy and excitement from our new cohort of students in the room 🚀 Research has highlighted the problems with class diversity in the tech sector. Just 9% of tech employees come from lower socio-economic backgrounds, compared to 29% in finance and 23% in law. It is one of the least accessible professions in this country. The Careers Plus Tech & Digital programme is designed to help talented young people get into one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing industries around, while helping to plug skills shortages and close the tech talent gap. Over the course of the 6-month programme, and supported by employers such as @microsoftuk , @bnyglobal , @IBM , @samsunguk , @Arm and stripehq, 66 of our alumni will develop the experience, skills and confidence to apply for competitive early careers opportunities across the tech sector. For example, programme activity will include workshops and webinars that build knowledge of the routes into careers, provide top tips for application processes, and share insights into the employability and technical skills needed for the sector. Students will also benefit from one-to-one mentoring with experienced professionals, and they’ll be able attend insight days and work placements that give them real-world experience of what it’s like to work at a leading tech and digital firm. Congratulations to this year’s cohort and a huge thank you to all the employers and volunteers supporting this year’s programme 👏

🚨 Britain’s leading figures are 21x more likely to have attended Oxbridge than the general population. Only 1% of the UK population go to Oxford or Cambridge for university. But our research shows that Oxbridge attendees are heavily overrepresented in the media, business, charity, creative and public sectors. Oxbridge attendance is highest among senior judges (75%) ⚖️ It's prominent in the world of politics, including permanent secretaries (66%), the shadow cabinet (56%), diplomats (44%) the cabinet (39%), the House of Lords (36%) and special advisors (33%). It's also common in the media, with 43% of newspaper columnists and 41% of political commentators going to one of the two universities 📰 Additionally, 37% of think tank senior staff attended Oxbridge. Attendance is least prominent in sport, as well as the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly. When such a small group of people attend just two institutions, it can lead to a narrow set of life experiences in top positions 👎

Which policies would improve outcomes for children living in poverty? Our Director of Research and Policy, Carl Cullinane, was in Parliament last week giving evidence to the joint inquiry on the Government’s new Child Poverty Strategy. In response to a question from Darren Paffey MP for Southampton Itchen, he outlined some of the key policies that are needed to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged children across the country ✍️

Only 5% of medical school entrants come from working-class backgrounds. Our research has shown that medical careers are out of reach for working-class people, who remain vastly underrepresented in the profession 👎 It’s clear that action is needed to build a more representative NHS workforce that reflects the diverse communities it serves. To do that, urgent action is needed to level the playing field in medical school admissions. Last week, we had the chance to join the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, @wesstreeting in a roundtable to discuss how that can be achieved. This came about as @dhscgovuk announced a package of measures to break down barriers to medical careers for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our Changemaker Ambassador and alumni Yasmin Baker, was able to go along and speak about her journey. Yasmin grew up in one of England’s most deprived areas, attended a local state school, and received free school meals. Now, she’s in her final year of medical school at Imperial College London, and is soon to qualify as a doctor. Joined by our CEO, Nick Harrison, it was a great opportunity for a representative of the Sutton Trust to speak about unequal access to medical careers and the need for change directly with a representative of the Government. A big thank you to the DHSC and the Health Secretary for inviting us. We’ll continue with our efforts to ensure that no young person is locked out of the opportunity to study medicine because of their background.

💬 "Today only a tiny proportion of medical students come from working class families, so this announcement is a welcome commitment to change. The NHS needs brilliant professionals from all backgrounds, and we all benefit from having an NHS that looks more like the communities it serves." @dhscgovuk has announced a package of measures to break down long-standing barriers into medical careers for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our research has clearly shown that medicine remains one of the most elitist professions in this country. For too many young people without social, academic or financial advantages, a successful medical career can feel like a pipe dream. That needs to change. We're pleased to have worked with DHSC as part of this process. It's a significant milestone in widening access to medical careers and a welcome step towards improving socio-economic diversity within the profession 👏 🔗 Click the link in our bio to see our full response!

You shouldn't have to change your accent to progress in your career. Accent bias is real, and it still exists in Britain today 👎 Our research has revealed how many people have faced barriers at university and in the workplace purely because of how they sound. We've also found that many people are highly aware of the biases they may encounter and feel that their accent might limit their career progression. This is wrong and needs to be tackled. Read about people's experiences of accent discrimination in our research - link in bio 🔗

Newspaper columnists are in a unique position to shape the political agenda 📰 They are able to share their views on the political issues of the day on widely read and shared platforms. But the profession isn't very accessible. Our research found that half of Britain's newspaper columnists were privately educated (just 7% of the UK population were educated privately). This figure is up from 44% in 2019 and 43% in 2014. At the same time, comprehensive school attendance has remained relatively stable at 18%. Back in 2014, the figure was 23%. 🔗 Click the link in our bio and head to our Elitist Britain microsite to see the data for yourself!

✍️ "Pupils with SEND, and especially those who also come from a low-income background, are significantly less likely to attend top state schools, even if there is one in their local area." We are in a crucial period for the future of the SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) system. Our new research underlines the importance of considering the interaction between socio-economic disadvantage and SEND in ongoing debates surrounding inclusion. Our report covered in @guardian 🗞️