5 consulting firms named Champion in Social Mobility

25 November 2014 Consultancy.uk

To battle the difficult social upward mobility path for young people, the UK Government has appointed 12 of UK’s best-known companies as ‘Champions in Social Mobility’. These companies will adhere to strict criteria in the next year to drive a benchmark that will allow young people easier access to the job ladder. Among the appointed companies five are consulting firms: Accenture, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton and KPMG.

In recent years, several politicians have shared their concerns on inequality and the difficult path of upward mobility. As a response, the UK Government recently launched a programme aimed at boosting mobility, and as part of the initiative, appointed 12 high-profile companies as a ‘Social Mobility Business Compact Champion’. These champions will drive a new benchmark for social mobility and lead the effort in ensuring that young people will have a better chance of climbing the ranks by committing to meet a set of strict criteria over the next 12 months.

These criteria include the developing of relationships with schools and young people, targeting efforts on institutions with above average levels of disadvantage, widening the geographical spread of opportunities, and offering well-structured non-graduate entry-routes and driving forward recruitment practices that eliminate barriers to social mobility

Accenture, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, KPMG named Champion in Social Mobility

The list of twelve 'Champions' includes five consulting firms – Big four players DeloitteEY and KPMG, as well as Accenture and Grant Thornton. Commenting on the appointments, UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says: “Businesses know they need to find the best talent in order to succeed. This means searching beyond the usual recruitment methods and hiring young people with great potential, whatever their background. It’s great to see leaders in industry backing this approach. However many businesses are still missing out, and more companies need to follow in the footsteps of the Champions we have announced today if we are to achieve our aim of a stronger economy and fairer society.”