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• Greater opportunities for wealthier families - study
• Alan Milburn calls for changes to system of internships
Radical action is needed to break up the "closed shops" of the British professions in the face of new evidence that in the last 20 years the professional classes are increasingly being drawn from wealthier families, Alan Milburn, the government's social mobility adviser, proposes today.
In an interview with the Guardian, Milburn says he is shocked by research to be published by the Cabinet Office today showing that "we are still even further away from an opportunity society than in the 70s".
Milburn, a former cabinet minister and leading Blairite, was asked by Gordon Brown to make recommendations on how to open up entry to the main British professions. He has served notice that his report will not simply look at the narrow issue of professional qualifications, but also families' aspirations and education.
With a final report due in the summer, Milburn suggested he will be recommending changes to the growth of internships, which are often only open to the wealthy, the informed and those living in the south-east.
Milburn said: "The evidence is that these internships work on the basis of who you know and not what you know. They can be prohibitively expensive for people from poorer backgrounds, but often you cannot get a job in a profession without this kind of work experience. It is a vicious circle."
He is also likely to back plans to require fee-paying private schools to do more to meet their charitable status, for example teaching "soft skills" such as communications to children from state schools.
The research shows entry into the professions has become more difficult even for average-income families. In nine out of 12 professions there has been an increase in the proportion of people coming from better-off families.
The research compares two groups - those born in 1958 and who entered the labour market in the early 80s, and those born in 1970 and entered the labour market in the 90s. The typical professional born in 1958 grew up in a family earning 17% above the average family income, the study shows. But the typical professional born in 1970 grew up in a family whose income was 27% above the average. The spread of family backgrounds from which the professions recruited has also shifted firmly towards more well-off families and away from average-income families.
For those born in 1970, lawyers, doctors and journalists on average grew up in the families with the highest income of all professionals.
The research also underlines the privilege of a private education. Only 7% of the population attended independent schools up to GCSE level yet 75% of judges, 70% of finance directors, 45% of top civil servants and 32% of MPs were privately educated.
Milburn said there had to be action to deal with the closed shops in society, adding that he regarded social mobility as the great political issue of the next decade. He argued Labour cannot win simply on the basis of its past record or its ability to stabilise the economy, but instead on its commitment to change society.
Milburn said there were also serious issues to address about raising aspirations. Only 16% of young people from average family backgrounds and 13% from lower socioeconomic groups aspire to be a professional. More than 30% of AB classes expect their children will go to university but only 10% in the DE groups think the same of their sons and daughters.
Parents, the research shows, are seen as the main source of careers advice for children, but many parents especially from poorer backgrounds have few contacts with professional classes and do not feel confident to give advice.
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