A charity says privately educated people continue to dominate the UK’s most influential positions and is calling for employers to report the socio-economic backgrounds of their staff. The Sutton Trust found that the most influential figures in Britain are around five times more likely to have attended a private school than the general population, a pattern it says mirrors its 2019 findings. Among UK-based FTSE 100 chief executives, 34% attended state comprehensive schools, 37% attended private schools, and the remainder went to grammar schools, a balance the charity says has not changed since 2019.

Sutton Trust chief executive Nick Harrison described the situation as a disgrace and said little progress has been made in opening up positions of power, with those from private schools maintaining a vice-like grip on the most important roles. “It’s a disgrace that most of the top jobs in Britain are still dominated by those from privileged education backgrounds, representing a small fraction of the wider population. Little progress has been made in opening up positions of power, with those from private schools maintaining a vice-like grip on the most important roles. In 2025 you can still buy advantage, massively increasing your chance of getting into the most powerful roles in the country. This is grossly unfair, and a waste of talent on a huge scale. If we want a fairer country and a stronger economy, employers and policymakers must take responsibility for levelling the playing field, where privilege is no longer a passport to power.”

The Sutton Trust noted that more than two thirds of FTSE 100 chairs were privately educated in 2025, a 15 percentage point rise since 2019. About 45% of chairs attended Oxbridge, and 41% had both private schooling and Oxbridge backgrounds. Around a third of charity chief executives (34%) went to a private school, while 66% of permanent secretaries are Oxbridge educated, up 10 percentage points since 2019. The charity also looked at social media influencers and found 18% had private-school backgrounds, and 68% attended a state comprehensive.

A YouGov poll of 1,492 business senior decision makers found 9% of employers say they ask whether employees are eligible for free school meals, and 15% ask about the parents’ profession or class background, similar to 2019. Contextual recruitment is being used by 17% of firms, up 2% from 2019. The Sutton Trust is calling for the Government to require employers with more than 250 staff to report on the socio-economic background of their workforce and to encourage reporting of class pay gaps; it also said employers should consider educational achievements in the context of disadvantage. “This polling suggests that most employers aren’t building a talent pipeline of young people from less advantaged backgrounds. And while there have been efforts to make business more inclusive, work on social mobility is patchy, and too often, social class is not included in the diversity conversation. Just one in 10 companies run specific schemes to support employees in terms of social mobility. This means they’re potentially limiting their talent pool. Making the most of talent, wherever it comes from, means employers can move beyond a narrow cohort of candidates from the most advantaged backgrounds. This can be a win-win for employers, society and the economy.”