Ladders of Opportunity: How top UK businesses create new routes into work - the Full Report

Read the full report here: Ladders of Opportunity

Having published our Two Million Jobs report in October 2024, the Jobs Foundation has pushed ahead in 2025 with a new publication, Ladders of Opportunity, looking at best practice around hiring, training and retaining staff. In researching the paper, we have spoken to some of the largest employers in Britain: Marks & Spencer, Amazon, King’s Trust, Greene King, Timpson, Pret a Manger. We have also sat down with a range of fascinating SMEs across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, all in a search to discover what companies are doing to successfully create jobs and keep people in work.

The Government published their Get Britain Working white paper in December 2024, reaffirming their commitment to raising the employment rate to 80 percent, which would mean creating two million more jobs across the country. Keir Starmer said at the time that “getting Britain back to work is at the heart of the mission to grow the economy”. The Jobs Foundation wants to help support that national mission, and Ladders of Opportunity is the next step in that journey.

“Obviously, I need to provide for her. I mean, she’s alright now, we’re on Universal Credit, but I don’t want her looking up to me and being like, ‘Oh, my dad’s on Universal Credit. He doesn’t do nothing for work.’ I want to give her a reason to work herself (when she’s old enough). You know what I mean? I’m just trying to do it right by her.”

The quote above was given to us by Josh, a young man in Ashton-under-Lyne who at the time of the interview, just wanted to get a job and escape from the cycle of welfare dependency. Checking back in with Josh a few weeks ago, we discovered he has now found himself a full-time job. The cycle of dependency on benefits can – and must – be broken.

Ladders of Opportunity is a report which is about the journey people make within their vocational lives and the rungs along the way. Each new skill learned, each new position or job that is acquired, is another step on their own personal ladder of opportunity. Even for older workers, the ladder never stops going up – everyone benefits from lifelong learning. Opportunity never goes out of anyone’s life, it just requires some adjusting at times to see where the ladder takes us.

This paper was created by a motivated and talented Jobs Foundation team, travelling across the country, speaking to business owners, jobseekers and charities working in this area. In early 2026, the Jobs Foundation will be launching an accreditation scheme for companies and other organisations who are examples of best practice in the realm of hiring, training and retaining staff. This report will form the basis of that scheme. We want to use the accreditation scheme to help inspire even more businesses – over and above our 1,200-strong Business Council – to join us in our mission to create two million jobs. The Jobs Foundation is a charity that has brought together people from across the political spectrum, from all parties and none. This is another call to arms: Join us to help make the Government’s goal of 80 percent employment a reality.

Read the full report here, Ladders of Opportunity.