Key findings
The United Kingdom in 2019 is an increasingly divided nation. The vote to leave the European Union both reflected and accentuated deep social divisions across the country. The nature of Britain’s ‘elite’ is higher in the national consciousness than ever, with trust between significant sections of the population and those at the highest levels of politics, business and the media, under strain. The latest indications are that social mobility across the UK is low and not improving. This deprives large parts of the population, both socio-economically and geographically, of opportunity. This study, conducted for the first time by both the Sutton Trust and the Social Mobility Commission, offers a snapshot of who gets to succeed in Britain in 2019.
This report looks at the educational backgrounds of Britain’s elite across a broad range of sectors. The Sutton Trust’s Leading People (2016), and the Social Mobility Commission’s Elitist Britain (2014) painted a picture of a country whose power structures are dominated by a narrow section of the population: the 7% who attend independent schools, and the roughly 1% who graduate from just two universities, Oxford and Cambridge. Looking at the five years since 2014, Elitist Britain 2019 shows isolated pockets of positive change, but a picture characterised by persistent inequality.
The broad trajectory of private school over-representation appears to be downwards, but
change is happening slowly. Two fifths of the elite examined here (39%) attended independent schools, more than five times as many as the population at large (7%). The prospects of those educated at private schools remain significantly brighter than their peers. The proportion of the elites having attended grammar school (20%) is more clearly on the decline, though this is in the main likely to be a symptom of generational change, reflecting the ending of the selective system in most of England during the 1960s and 70s, and the rise of the comprehensively educated generation. Also a function of generational change is the level of university attendance rising across many sectors, as the increased number of graduates in the population filters upwards.
Politics In politics, the 2017 General Election returned a parliament with the highest number of comprehensively educated MPs on record, at 52%. Nonetheless, 29% of MPs still come from a private school background, four times higher than the electorate they represent. The House of Lords is even less representative, with 57% of its members having been educated privately. This figure is actually 8 percentage points higher
than 2014, potentially owing to the profile of new Lords appointed by David Cameron and Theresa May in the interim. The cabinet, at the time of analysis in spring 2019, was composed of 39% independently educated members. This is in stark contrast with the shadow cabinet, with just 9% – the lowest level of the privately educated in Britain’s elite outside professional football. Increasing numbers of MPs have university degrees (up 5 percentage points), with the numbers graduating from Oxbridge (24%) consistent over time.
Business Business saw some of the highest rates of internationally educated members of the elite, with 43% of FTSE 350 CEOs, and over half (51%) of the Sunday Times Rich List top 100 schooled abroad. Looking at those educated in the UK alone however, there were large numbers who were independently educated – 57% of the Rich List and 48% of FTSE 350 CEOs. Tech firm CEOs and entrepreneurs, a source of business innovation, also had large numbers of privately schooled members, but at 44%, entrepreneurs had the highest rate of non-university graduates outside sport and the creative industries.
Media The media, alongside politics and the civil service, form a triumvirate of sectors at the top of the socially exclusive list, with all three largely centred in London. Newspaper columnists, who play a significant role in shaping the national conversation, draw from a particularly small pool, with 44% attending independent school and 33% coming through the independent school to Oxbridge ‘pipeline’ alone. Looking at a variety of roles in the news media, including influential editors and broadcasters, we see a similar picture, with 43% having been privately educated and 36% graduating from Oxbridge. Trends in the sector, including budget cuts, the closure of many local media organisations, the increasing casualisation of work and high numbers of unpaid internships, contribute to the ongoing under-representation of those from less well-off backgrounds across the media.
Whitehall & Public Bodies In Whitehall and public bodies, which are responsible for enacting government policy and overseeing a wide range of sectors across British society, there is a consistent picture of overrepresentation of those from elite educational backgrounds. Civil service permanent secretaries (59%), Foreign Office diplomats (52%), and Public Body Chairs (45%) have among the highest rates of independently educated in their ranks. Despite efforts to overhaul entry into the Civil Service, its highest levels remain highly exclusive, with 56% having graduated from Oxford or Cambridge, and 39% having attended both a private school and Oxbridge. While the numbers of the comprehensively educated in these roles is on the rise, this is largely at the expense of declining grammar school numbers, reflecting historic reforms in the state education system.
Public Servants Looking at a wider group of public servants, across law, defence and the academic world showed some of the highest rates of elitism. Senior Judges were the most rarefied group, with two thirds attending private schools and 71% graduating from Oxbridge. In fact over half (52%) of senior judges took the same pathway from independent school to Oxbridge and then into the judiciary. While these figures are slightly lower than in 2014, they are far removed from even many fellow members of the elite. The armed forces also had high proportions of privately educated in their highest ranks (49%), although this is down by 13 percentage points on 2014. University Vice Chancellors in contrast had relatively low levels of private school and Oxbridge educated members among their number.
Local Government The picture of politics at local government level is substantially different from the national level. Local government leaders have a lower proportion of those educated independently (20%) compared to MPs (29%). Additionally, local government CEOs are among the least likely to have been privately educated, at 9%, a significant contrast with their counterparts in the Civil Service in Whitehall, who sit at the other end of the spectrum. Oxbridge attendance among both groups (5%) is also one of the lowest outside sport. Given the spread of these roles across the country, it is perhaps unsurprising that they reflect a substantially different background than the rest of the political establishment centred in London.
Influential Women Women are under-represented across the top professions, making up just 5% of FTSE 350 CEOs, 16% of local government leaders, 24% of senior judges, 26% of permanent secretaries and 35% of top diplomats. For women who do make it to the top, their journeys do not always look the same as those of their male peers. In a variety of sectors, women at the top are less likely to have attended Oxbridge than their male counterparts, including the judiciary (where they are 25 percentage points less likely), the House of Lords (21 percentage points), and those working as newspaper columnists or diplomats (both 17 percentage points less). Nonetheless, women in top roles, including influential female leaders in Britain (43% of whom attended private school), are much more likely to have attended an independent school than women in the population overall.
Creative Industries Creative industries saw some of the lowest proportions of Oxbridge graduates, with just 2% of top selling pop music artists attending the two universities, and over 70% not attending university at all. Among the wealthiest members of the TV, film and music industries, university attendance was somewhat higher, at 42%, with about a quarter attending Russell Group institutions. They also had substantial numbers of independent school attendees, at 38%, though the number attending comprehensives has risen by 18 percentage points since 2014. Popular music appears more diverse than those at the top of the acting profession (30% independently educated compared to 44%).
Sport There were big differences across sports, and between men’s and women’s teams. While 5% of men’s football international players attended independent schools, 37% of rugby internationals and 43% of the England cricket team had done so. Rugby showed big differences across the nations: 25% of England internationals attended comprehensives, compared to 81% of Six Nations champions Wales. Women’s teams showed similar patterns to their male counterparts in terms of school background, but around 80% of women’s internationals across football, cricket and rugby had attended university, compared to small numbers of men. This reflects generally lower levels of financial compensation and career opportunities in the women’s game.