We launch our social mobility impact report

Levelling Up is the government’s moral, social and economic programme to end the geographical inequality which is such a striking feature of the UK and give everyone the opportunity to flourish.

We have worked with the Purpose Coalition to benchmark our work against their 14 Levelling Up Goals to analyse how the services we deliver are boosting opportunity across the country and identify further steps for extending our impact against the levelling up agenda.

Our new report outlines our findings.

Launched in 2021, the Purpose Coalition’s Goals provide a framework to help organisations identify gaps in access to opportunity. This includes covering key life stages from early years to adulthood as well as the main areas where barriers can exist that prevent people from achieving their potential – for example good health and wellbeing and digital connectivity. They also provide a way of measuring impact and sharing best practice.

The report highlights the key strengths that Reed in Partnership demonstrates in delivering equality of opportunity in the UK, focusing particularly on the following:

• Goal 3 – Positive Destinations Post 16+
• Goal 4 – Right Advice and Experience
• Goal 5 – Open Recruitment
• Goal 6 – Fair Career Progression
• Goal 8 – Good Health and Wellbeing
• Goal 10 – Closing the Digital Divide

Some of the examples of our best practice include our partnerships with the Careers Hub service to help young people access informed and meaningful careers education, our delivery of the National Citizen Service and Young Careers initiatives to help young people build the skills and experiences they need to fulfil their potential and our employability services that bridge the gap between unemployed people and work opportunities in their local areas.

The report also includes recommendations for future action to strengthen the contribution we make to improving social mobility. The report suggests we can leverage our position to lead the way on enterprise-led social value generation, including the strategic use of data to specifically target those individuals and communities who need the most support and the measurement and tracking of the socioeconomic diversity of its workforce to better understand the barriers to career progression.

Rhodri Thomas, Managing Director at Reed in Partnership said:

“The Purpose Coalition’s levelling up goals are a really effective way of measuring the impact we are making as an organisation and how we can go further.

“Reading the report fills me with huge pride at the work our teams do across the country every day. This work will be even more important against the backdrop of the cost of living issues, and the report’s recommendations provide a really good challenge for us as a business moving forward.

“We would like to thank Justine and the team and look forward to continuing to contribute to this vitally important agenda for the country.”

Chair of the Purpose Coalition, Rt Hon Justine Greening, added:

“Following the pandemic and now with a mounting cost of living crisis, it has never been more important for businesses to play their part in delivering opportunity into the heart of the communities they serve. Using their local knowledge and their partnerships with organisations who have the expertise to understand the kind of support people need, they are well placed to make a real difference.

“Reed in Partnership can play a leading role in boosting opportunity - that is its core business and, with offices across the country, it has a huge geographic reach. It recognises that talent can be found anywhere, regardless of place or background, and offers targeted support for those groups who face particular barriers to getting a job and getting on. It also understands what employers need from their potential employees. As a business, it provides the crucial link between both parties, developing the skills and matching people with opportunities that will lead to well-paid jobs and rewarding careers in a high tech, green economy. That is illustrated by the way in which it gives its own staff the chance to learn, grow and advance their own careers, with a flexibility that suits them.

“It’s clear that we will all need to work together to overcome the challenges the country is facing. The new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, has already called for ‘more investment and great jobs in every town and city across the country’. Whether that agenda continues to be referred to as levelling up remains to be seen but there is no doubt that that approach is fundamental to growing the economy and boosting productivity with a more skilled workforce. Those ambitions are vital if we are to ensure equality of opportunity for all, and I look forward to working with Reed in Partnership in the future to achieve that.”

You can read our full report by clicking here.