Since 1997, the Sutton Trust has worked to level the playing field. We fight for social mobility from birth to the workplace so that every young person – no matter who their parents are, what school they go to, or where they live – has the chance to succeed in life.
Our cause
Social mobility is about ensuring the opportunities open to a young person are not dependent on the economic and social position they were born into. High levels of social mobility mean that people from all backgrounds are able to access the opportunities suited to their talents and aspirations. It’s crucial for creating a fairer society, fostering social cohesion and boosting economic growth.
Yet social mobility in Britain is low. For a child born in the UK today, their chances in life are strongly linked to their parents’ background. Those from high-earning families are more likely to end up going to the best universities and getting top jobs later in life. Put simply, if an opportunity exists, we believe it should be equally open to those from lower income homes as their wealthier peers.
Our vision
- We work to improve access to high-quality education and employment opportunities.
- Our programmes focus on high-attaining students from lower income families.
- We aim to sustain and innovate our programme portfolio by looking at new avenues for social mobility such as apprenticeships and the use of digital technology.
- Our scope in research and policy is wider. We aim to produce concrete and achievable policy asks in our five priority areas; early years, school years, apprenticeships, access to university and access to the workplace.
The number of young people from across the UK who access a Sutton Trust programme each year.
The percentage of our students who moved from the lowest to the highest socio-economic groups after leaving university.
The number of agenda-setting research reports we've published since 1997.
How we work
In order to leverage what we do, we work in partnership with leading UK and US universities, foundations, corporate partners and other not-for-profits.
Programmes
Our ProgrammesResearch
Our ResearchPolicy Influence
Our PrioritiesAlumni Community
AlumniOur history
The Sutton Trust was founded by Sir Peter Lampl in 1997. The son of a Viennese émigré who came to Britain in the 30s, Peter attended grammar school and went on to study at Oxford. After a successful career in private equity, Peter returned to the UK in the mid-90s. Through visiting his old school and former college, he was struck by the decline in educational opportunities open to someone from his background.
Peter wanted to do something to change this. In 1997 the Sutton Trust was formed and ran its first summer school in partnership with the University of Oxford. 64 seventeen year olds from schools which
Oxford had never heard from spent a week experiencing life as an undergraduate, attending lectures, seminars, and social events. 16 out of 64 got in to Oxford and many of them went onto other leading universities. Since then we’ve worked intensively with over 50,000 young people and given them the opportunity to change their lives. We’ve also published over 250 pieces of agenda-setting research, many of which have influenced government policy.
Our work has put social mobility firmly on the map and established the Sutton Trust as the leading organisation in the social mobility space in the UK.