Deepdives into Social Mobility: A Local Perspective Stage 2 and 3

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK and promotes social mobility in England. It is an independent statutory body created by an Act of Parliament and is sponsored by the Cabinet Office.

The SMC is interested in understanding more about the people and places with poor social mobility. We are therefore seeking expert suppliers who can conduct quantitative analysis to identify the factors associated with good and bad social mobility outcomes, both at the geographic and household level. Examples of subjects considered as part of this analysis might be the role of local labour markets, educational institutions and income deprivation at the geographical level, and family composition and parental behaviours at the household level. The successful supplier will provide original analysis across a range of datasets and comprehensive and compelling narrative in a final report.

The SMC wishes to continue building and improving on our evidence base. Our State of the Nation 2023 (SON23) research shows very clear inequalities of mobility across the country, captured in our regional analysis of mobility rates. We have a robust understanding of the areas with high and low levels of social mobility across the UK, but only in a descriptive sense. We are therefore keen to understand more about the economic and individual characteristics of these areas that drive these outcomes. This will include a detailed analysis of the key characteristics of low-mobility areas, including the role of economic, household and family factors, and the crucial differences between these and higher-mobility areas.

This is the second stage of a multi-year, mixed methods research project - the 'Deepdive' into low mobility areas. The first stage, currently ongoing, is a qualitative research project, covering people's understanding and experience of, and attitudes towards, social mobility and its enablers.

This analysis is unlikely to provide definitive causal conclusions, but will help to draw out clear conclusions on the implications for policy and further research. Ultimately, the Commission aims to have a better understanding of the key factors which shape, influence and enable social mobility at the local level, allowing policymakers to be more precise in their approaches to improving social mobility in the UK.

Bidders must submit their Bids before 4pm on 18 October 2024. All Bids must be submitted to contact@socialmobilitycommission.gov.uk.

Failure to return Bids by the time and due date or in the required format may disqualify Bidders from consideration.