Introduction
The Mayor’s Fund for London is an independent social-mobility charity based in the capital. Its belief is that all young people, regardless of their starting point in life, should be able to thrive in their communities and take advantage of London’s job opportunities to forge fulfilling careers. The charity commissions organizations to run projects for young Londoners and delivers two flagship programs itself. Oliver Wyman partnered with the Mayor’s Fund to write a report on the state of social mobility in London with the intention of challenging the common perception that “London is a social mobility escalator,” and subsequently using our findings to drive action for change.
Having grown up in a disadvantaged part of London, the issues raised by this work resonated very deeply with me. My hope is that our report can really galvanize people and organizations into actionUshir Bhatt, Partner
Scope
Through this collaboration, Oliver Wyman co-authored a report with the aim of: challenging the accepted wisdom that social mobility in London is sorted; setting out a framework for successful social mobility, identifying the key enablers needed to translate academic success into meaningful job opportunities; reviewing the landscape of support, and highlighting the challenges with coordinating and distributing services; and laying out practical recommendations for all actors to take to enact change.
We suspected that London had a social mobility problem, but we didn’t know for sure. Working with Oliver Wyman gave us access to analytical expertise, high levels of professionalism, and a really engaged, creative team. This led to the production and launch of a game -changing research report we will use to influence corporate LondonDiana Fawcett, Chief Officer, Mayor's Fund For London
Impact
Through the creation of the report, Oliver Wyman was able to provide compelling evidence that London is “not sorted” with regards to social mobility. Through multiple stakeholder interviews and combining new data sources, Oliver Wyman was able to highlight fundamental challenges such as a geographic mismatch between the location of needs and support across London’s boroughs. The report will now act as a key resource for helping the Mayor Fund Trust’s effort to push the social mobility agenda amongst employers, policymakers, and delivery services. During the writing and subsequent launch of the “One City, Two Worlds” report, an event with the Mayor of London was being planned for a wider social mobility event.
It was fascinating to explore how smarter and better education can address broader socio-economic issues in London. I am convinced that supporting social mobility will move up employers' agendas and become as important as issues like gender equality. Our research with the Mayor’s Fund for London has the potential to accelerate this for the capitalKarim Bechir, Engagement Manager