Two-thirds say their background affects career
Posted 26th November 2025 • Written by Rob Moss on personneltoday.com • • • • • •
Two-thirds of Britons believe their background affects how far they can go in their career, according to research for Co-op, and 52% think businesses should treat social mobility as part of their wider diversity and inclusion commitments.
The findings highlight how many people believe bias in recruitment and a lack of professional networks continue to limit opportunity across the UK.
Sixty-eight per cent of more than 2,000 people polled last month said background such as accent, family income or school affects career opportunities. Only 32% feel confident that employers genuinely care about social mobility
People believe the biggest barriers to progress for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are the cost of higher education (31%), bias in recruitment (28%) and lack of confidence or professional networks (25%).
Co-op has launched two free toolkits to make opportunities fairer for employers and jobseekers, offering practical steps to remove barriers linked to socioeconomic background. The Social Mobility Employer Toolkit provides guidance for organisations to measure, understand and improve social mobility in their workforce.
Alongside it, an Employability Toolkit offers a free resource to help people who face barriers to work – such as young people, returners, refugees and those with convictions – to build confidence and develop job-ready skills.
Claire Costello, chief people and inclusion officer at Co-op, said: “This research shows that background still plays too big a role in determining career success. Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. Every business can take steps to change that.
“Our new Employer Toolkit makes it easier for organisations to understand the socioeconomic gap in their workforce and take practical action to close it. At Co-op, access to opportunity is a core part of our Social Value Strategy, and we are showing that inclusion and productivity go hand in hand.”
Maree Moore, associate director of organisational learning, talent and inclusion at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, said: “We share Co-op’s commitment to improving social mobility and widening access to opportunity. The Co-op Employer Toolkit is a practical and valuable resource that helps businesses of all sizes take meaningful steps to understand and address inequality linked to socioeconomic background.”
Research by YouGov for Co-op in April found that while over a third of businesses have a defined social mobility strategy, fewer than one in five currently treat it as a top priority. A report by Demos in partnership with Co-op estimated that low social mobility costs the UK economy £19bn a year in lost productivity.
Co-op said stronger government action is needed to make social mobility measurable – including requiring large employers to publish data on colleagues’ socioeconomic background to track progress across every sector. It is calling on government to explore how to incentivise and support employers to measure and publish data on the socioeconomic background of their workforce.
Employers and jobseekers can access the toolkits on the Co-op website.
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