10 Years On - Britain's Social Mobility Problem

In 2005 the Sutton Trust published a seminal study by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics that catapulted the issue of low social mobility into national political and public debate. It concluded that social mobility in Britain alongside the United States was lower than for any other developed country, and that social mobility had declined for the generation born in 1970 compared that born in 1958. It has been called the most influential study on public policy in the last 20 years and the reverberations from its striking findings can still be seen widely today.

A decade on from its publication this seminar will hear from two of the central figures behind the study: Stephen Machin, Professor of Economics and Research Director of CEP, and Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation. They will reflect on its main findings and discuss some of the reasons why social mobility is so low in Britain. They will critically review what has been done by Government and others to address the problem and assess the social mobility prospects for future generations.

They will be joined in a panel discussion by Jo Blanden, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Surrey and co-author of the LSE study, and Dr Lee Elliot Major, Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust.

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Venue: Room 1.04, 1st Floor, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH