Jon Robins takes issue with the poshness test
Are you posh enough to work here? Alan Milburn, the government’s so-called social mobility tsar, last month accused business of imposing a “poshness test” (his phrase) effectively excluding bright working class kids from the best jobs.
In his latest report, which involved a study of 13 top law, accountancy and financial services firms, it was revealed that seven out of 10 of job offers made last year to graduates went to those who had been to fee-paying or selective state schools. “Inevitably that ends up excluding youngsters who have the right sort of grades and abilities but whose parents do not have the right sort of bank balances,” said Milburn, who chairs the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.
The report records “a relatively dramatic decline” in the number of lawyers employed within these firms who were the first-generation in their family to go to university. More than four out of 10 trainees (41%) appointed by leading law firms were educated at private schools.
“Despite apparent efforts to open access to the law over
