A look at how the public approach the topic of social mobility and how the party manifestos stack up – based on polling and focus group research in partnership with the Sutton Trust.

Is social mobility on the ballot? That’s the question the Sutton Trust asked More in Common to explore earlier this year with polling and focus group research identifying how the public approach the topic and whether the parties’ plans on social mobility meet expectations.

Our findings show the public buy the idea that Britain has a social mobility problem and support a broad set of policy ideas which tackle it. Using our values-based British Seven segments, we identified different ‘routes’ into the social mobility debate for different segments that can help broaden public support for policy action. 

The public recognise Britain’s social mobility challenge, but haven’t heard the term 

Overall, the public buys the idea that there is a social mobility challenge in the UK. The public is almost three times more likely to say some people have better opportunities to succeed than others (71 per cent) than that everyone has the same opportunity to succeed (25 per cent). While this view is held more by left-leaning segments, there is majority support across every segment. 

However, while Britons recognise the challenge of social mobility in the UK, fewer than two in five (39 per cent) have heard of the term. Only the most highly engaged – the Progressive Activist segment – are considerably more likely to have heard of the term (70 per cent of Progressive Activists have heard of the term ‘social mobility’). 

Convergence and divergence between segments

Building political momentum on social mobility requires bringing together the approaches of different segments. While all segments consider job opportunities the key barrier to success, socially liberal segments see educational access and discrimination as some of the most  significant barriers, while socially conservative segments more readily cite work ethic and parenting. Perceptions of the scale of inequality also vary. Typical Blue Wall voters ( our Established Liberals) are much less likely to say the UK has a ‘very big’ class gap (8 per cent compared to 31 per cent of the public). 

What role does individual responsibility play in tackling social mobility?

While the public recognise that opportunity is unevenly distributed in the UK, not everyone considers this a bad thing. Three in five Britons see success as determined primarily by hard work, and  key parts of the Conservative voter coalition (Established Liberals and Backbone Conservatives) think parents should be able to give their children a head start. As Jess from Kent told us, success “comes down to working really hard” and “pushing yourself”. To command broad support, social mobility policy initiatives must leave room for personal responsibility and hard work.

How do the parties’ promises stack up?

With the General Election now around the corner, how do party policies and promises on social mobility stack up to the public’s expectations?

In both main parties’ manifestos, apprenticeships take centre stage. This mirrors broad public support for apprentices – two in three (68 per cent) say that more young people should do apprenticeships compared to the third (35 per cent) who recommend more young people go to university. Apprenticeships represent a route to a more equal Britain – twice as many say children from richer and poorer families have the same opportunities for apprenticeships (56 per cent) than universities (28 per cent). Realising manifesto promises on apprenticeships is one way the next government can meet the public’s expectations on equalising opportunity. 

Job creation is the public’s top priority for making a positive difference to the lives of young people. Most people (52 per cent) think there is a lack of job opportunities where they live and see this as the main barrier to success. While more Britons trust Labour (41 per cent) than the Conservatives (19 per cent) on jobs and unemployment – more than a quarter (27 per cent) trust neither party. In this low trust context, Labour’s guarantee for work experience and career advice can be a first step, but if they form the next, as seems likely, they may need to go further to meet public expectations.

While the policy debate on higher education funding might be missing from the main manifestos, it is likely to feature heavily in political  debates in the next Parliament. There is a clear public expectation on making university more accessible – most (52 per cent) favour maintenance grants for low-income students over loans. The Liberal Democrats and Green Party pledging to reintroduce grants may indicate this topic will remain on the agenda.

So, is social mobility on the ballot?

While social mobility may not be front of mind as voters go to ballot boxes next Thursday, Labour’s opportunity mission means social mobility is likely to return – at least rhetorically – in the next Parliament. But the public’s expectations are for results not rhetoric. Delivering on the manifesto commitments on social mobility is an opportunity for the next government to demonstrate progress on fixing another part of a country that – in voters’ words – feels broken.