Celebrating the launch of Ladders of Opportunity

This month, we were excited to publish the second volume of our foundational research, Ladders of Opportunity: How top UK businesses are creating new routes into work. This report looks to showcase employer best practice and enshrine the role of business as the most potent poverty busting tool that our society has. We were proud to celebrate this publication with an event in the House of Lords, with speeches from Labour and Conservative MPs, and a host of our supporters, policymakers, and businesses featured in the report in attendance.

You can read the full Report here, and the Executive Summary here.

Through researching the paper, we have spoken to some of the largest employers in Britain: Marks & Spencer, Amazon, King’s Trust, Greene King, Timpson, and Pret a Manger (to name a few!). We have also sat down with a whole host of SMEs, all in a search of how businesses are supporting those in poverty and worklessness into long term sustainable employment.

The report contains a host of inspiring stories of how through innovative training and employment schemes, businesses have taken people from poverty and welfare into a thriving, independent life of employment. It also includes a suite of recommendations for businesses and policymakers to learn from, on how to maximise the role of business in creating opportunities and boosting social mobility. 

These include:

Poverty hotspots: Businesses that make a virtue of employing locally and nurture talent in their local areas are a vital life raft for many communities across the country. A fantastic example of this would be David Neiper Ltd (see page 18 of the report) where skills and training have been made top priority, in conjunction with sponsoring the local school, to ensure the last UK fashion business in this area is still producing countless jobs for the local community.

Unique groups: Specific groups of people like ex-offenders and veterans, while unique in their requirements from businesses, can make an incredible contribution to a company and are often cited as being model employees once embedded in a business. Just look at the Dusty Knuckle Bakery (see page 108) and their wrap-around scheme for ex-offenders, offering structure and routine as a vital stepping stone into paid work.

Young people: Some might coin this the worst type of unemployment, stifling the next generation of employees before they’ve even had a chance to recognise their potential. Thankfully, businesses like Marks & Spencer (see page 76) are running schemes to give these young people tools to enter the workforce, underpinning the important fact that opportunity is only one rung of the ladder away, if given the correct support.

Our report comes at a timely moment. Sadly, with unemployment rising and welfare claims continuing to balloon post-pandemic, the Prime Minister is set to review welfare reforms again to support more people into work. As part of this, Sir Charlie Mayfield is soon to publish a set of recommendations on how businesses can help support disabled people to stay in work – something we at the Jobs Foundation will be following closely.

We hope that this report will help set the scene ahead of this period, providing a roadmap for the Government delivering on their ambitions of moving two million people from welfare and economic inactivity into employment – giving people the confidence to start a new life of pride and independence. 

Ladders of Opportunity also marks the next step in the development of our Accreditation Scheme in 2026, which will recognise businesses who are shining examples of using jobs and training to better people’s lives. For more information on this please, reach out to me directly on georgiana@thejobsfoundation.com.

Read the Report here.