Written evidence from CLOSER,(UCL Social Research Institute) (SMP0003)

Author: Jay Dominy, Public Affairs Manager

Reviewers: Professor Jennifer Symonds, Director; Dr Charlotte Campbell, Policy Research Fellow; Rob Davies, Head of Policy & Dialogue

1. About us:

1.1           CLOSER, the home of longitudinal research[1], is the UK’s partnership of social and biomedical longitudinal population studies and works to increase their visibility, use and impact. Our partner studies[2] comprise national and regional studies from across the UK. CLOSER partner studies include the British Birth Cohort Studies, Born in Bradford, Growing Up in Scotland, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, Understanding Society – the UK Household Longitudinal Study, and more.

1.2           CLOSER has been funded by the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) since 2012 and is based at the UCL Social Research Institute.

2. Our reason for submitting evidence:

2.1           CLOSER represents multiple longitudinal population studies across the UK. These national scientific assets follow the same people and households over time, often from birth, collecting a wide array of data and information about study participants, which enable researchers and policymakers to explore people’s complex lives and how changes in society affect health, community and life chances. CLOSER’s strategic position in the research landscape and birds’ eye view of the UK’s longitudinal population studies makes it an ideal vehicle for identifying and communicating evidence to inform policy.

2.2           The UK’s longitudinal population studies are recognised as vital sources of evidence on social mobility and how barriers to opportunity can affect people across the life course, providing insights into individual short and long-term change and the relationship between different elements of people’s complex lives that cannot be obtained from any other data sources. They allow researchers to explore how different groups vary, and how and why people’s lives change, enabling a greater understanding of the difference between causal relationships and correlation.

2.3           UK longitudinal population studies collect a range of data about the social mobility of study participants, including on education, employment, family backgrounds, and lifestyle behaviours. Data from multiple longitudinal population studies has been used in research assessing social mobility, including:

• Understanding Society[3]
• The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)[4]
• Next Steps [5]
• The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)[6]
• Growing Up in Scotland (GUS)[7]
• Born in Bradford[8]

2.4           Research using these studies’ data has investigated the impact of early life circumstances on social mobility across the life course, including on educational and employment outcomes. Research has also investigated family factors that are likely to impact social mobility, especially regarding cultural habits developed early in life or passed down from a child’s parents. Evidence from longitudinal population studies has proven particularly helpful in understanding the impacts poor health can have on social mobility at different stages in people’s lives.

The use of longitudinal population studies and the ability to adjust for other elements of people’s lives is especially important and something other sources of information struggle to offer.

2.5           Our response focuses on the following questions in the call for evidence:

• How can social mobility, using this definition, be measured? What does the data show in terms of trends in social mobility, including data in relation to characteristics such as ethnicity, gender and disability, and those not in education, employment or training? What data exists in relation to changes in income levels in the UK since the 1970s?
• What gaps are there in available data, and how might they be filled?
• What should be the main aims of any Government policy on social mobility policy?
• What part does training play in supporting career development and promotion to existing employees?

3. What is your preferred definition of social mobility, and why?

For this response, we follow the Social Mobility Commission’s definition, where social mobility refers to the difference between an individual’s life outcomes and those of their parents. This could mean a different income level, a different occupational class, or other differences, such as housing or education. This is sometimes referred to as ‘intergenerational social mobility’ [1].

4. How can social mobility, using this definition, be measured? What does the data show in terms of trends in social mobility, including data in relation to characteristics such as ethnicity, gender and disability, and those not in education, employment or training? What data exists in relation to changes in income levels in the UK since the 1970s?

4.1 Longitudinal data

• Much of the existing research on intergenerational mobility has used data from longitudinal population studies such as those in the CLOSER partnership [2]. These studies contain rich data that help to identify some of the key drivers of social mobility. They provide information that administrative datasets cannot and make intergenerational comparisons easier by tracking the same people over time. Importantly, they also collect information on participants’ parents, and sometimes grandparents.

4.2 Education and employment

• Qualifications play a critical role in labour market outcomes. Having a university degree makes it more likely for people to get a job, and to retain it when faced with a negative life event such as a mental health issue [3].
• Further, people develop ambitions to gain qualifications early. For example, young people in Scotland in less deprived areas are more likely to see themselves going to university than those in more deprived areas as early as 14-years-old [4].
• Beyond qualifications, longitudinal research has found that people from affluent backgrounds are more likely to engage in activities which signal and reinforce their social position. Engaging in ‘highbrow’ cultural activities, such as ballet or opera, can provide opportunities to improve career prospects [5]. Additionally, those from affluent backgrounds are most likely to form a network of people with similar backgrounds and levels of education, who can offer support in the labour market [5].
• These findings may be used to explain why people with the same qualifications can have different outcomes. For example, among Understanding Society participants, those whose parents worked in routine jobs (such as receptionists, or electricians) earned 7.4% less than people with the same qualifications whose parents were in higher management or professional roles [5].

4.3           Health

• Poor physical and mental health is a barrier to opportunity and limits social mobility. Concerningly, UK longitudinal research has found that the prevalence of various chronic diseases is higher for younger generations compared to older generations [6]. People born after 1980 are two-to-three times more likely to be overweight or obese in childhood compared to people born before 1980 [7]. In one CLOSER partner study covering people in Scotland, only a third of young people met the minimum levels of physical activity recommended by the NHS (seven hours per week) [4]. There are three million more disabled working-age adults than a decade ago [8].
• Longitudinal research consistently finds mental health difficulties are closely linked with educational success. Young people with mental health difficulties are twice as likely not to reach educational benchmarks compared to those without [9].
• Longitudinal evidence also shows that the period of austerity between 2010-11 and 2019-20, during which funding for children and young people’s services fell by £325 million per year, negatively affected mental health among young people [10]. It is therefore unsurprising that in the Growing Up in Scotland study half of 14-year-olds reported having experienced a period of several days or more of feeling depressed at some point in their life [4].

5. What gaps are there in available data, and how might they be filled?

• Longitudinal birth cohort studies follow a group of people born at a similar date or period of time and track them throughout their lives. These are extremely valuable longitudinal resources which make it possible to establish relationships between earlier life events and circumstances and later life outcomes.
• While the UK has an outstanding collection of longitudinal birth cohort studies [11], there is a lack of representative coverage of the devolved nations in birth-cohort studies. Greater funding to address this would represent a step-change in how central UK and devolved policymakers can understand the lives of those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• The Pupil Parent Matched Database (PPMD) by the Department for Education links pupil data to information about their parents or guardians [12]. Linking the PPMD to longitudinal survey data, such as Next Steps and the Millennium Cohort Study, could substantially enrich these data sources and allow analysts to further understand social mobility [2].

6. What should be the main aims of any Government policy on social mobility policy?

• It is critical that adult training and education is prioritised, and any Government should support adults into training and education through funding and awareness raising. As we highlight in our answer to Q14, funding for adult education has collapsed despite the positive effects it has on social mobility. The Social Mobility Foundation has recommended that existing funding structures should be consolidated so that everyone over a certain age can access a government grant to spend on accredited education or training [13].
• There is a pressing need to improve youth mental health in the UK, which is likely to have positive effects on social mobility. Interventions to improve mental health delivered via universal and inclusive education-based means are likely to particularly benefit those from disadvantaged backgrounds (who are more likely to experience mental health difficulties) [9]. This could be achieved by creating tailored online NHS information hubs that provide a guide to the mental health and wellbeing provisions available locally [14]. As mental health difficulties are closely linked with educational success, narrowing the mental health gap between disadvantaged and advantaged young people will have benefits for social mobility.
• While solving socioeconomic inequality is not feasible in the short term, policymakers can focus on breaking down barriers to opportunity by closing the cultural and social capital gap. This could lead to more equal career prospects for those with the same qualifications across society. The Fabian Society have proposed a culture pass for young people, as well as twinning schools with their local arts organisations to help spread cultural engagement to more children [15].
• A comprehensive whole-of-government approach is required to tackle the worsening health of the working-age population. An independent, statutory body, similar to the Climate Change Committee (CCC), could be set up with a clear mandate to advise the UK Government on health-related issues and budget, and to evaluate the health impacts of policy decisions. The new Labour Market Advisory Board is a good foundation for this. Additionally, the White Paper on the Plan to Get Britain Working should focus on reducing long-term sickness and improving occupational health. One way to investigate the causes of harm to health in the workplace, and to trial interventions, would be a UK Government strategic review of public sector working practices. This review could set a benchmark for work quality, providing evidence-based examples of best practice [16].
• Introducing a longitudinal birth cohort study in new areas can have a transformative impact on the policymaking in a region. The Born in Bradford (BiB) longitudinal birth cohort study helps to understand what is driving health inequalities in Bradford and works with the local authority, schools and young people to develop ways of affecting positive change [14]. BiB has created datasets for senior leaders at schools to help them understand the prevalence of mental ill-health, and signposts to interventions available locally [14].

7. What part does training play in supporting career development and promotion to existing employees?

• Longitudinal data clearly demonstrates the benefits of adult education. People who were unemployed and participated in some form of training were far less likely to be unemployed five years later [13]. Income growth is also stronger for those in the bottom half of the income distribution when they participate in college and university-based education.
• However, participation in adult education has almost halved since 2004, from 29% to just below 15%. This has been driven by a fall in funding: excluding apprenticeships, total spending on adult education fell by 48% (or around £1.3bn) from 2009-10 to 2019-20 [13].

References

1.              Social Mobility Commission What is social mobility? 2025  [cited 2025 10 April]; Available from: https://socialmobility.independent-commission.uk/our-work/what-is-social-mobility/.

2.              Social Mobility Commission Data for social mobility: improving the collection and availability of data across government 2022.

3.              Salis, S.S., Stefan; Samek, Lea; Bivand, Paul, A study of work and health transitions: analysis of Understanding Society. 2021, Department for Work and Pensions.

4.              Growing Up in Scotland Life at age 14: initial findings from the Growing Up in Scotland study 2022, Growing Up in Scotland.

5.              Vallely, M. The 'class ceiling'. 2023  [cited 2025 11 April]; Available from: https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/blog/2023/11/15/the-class-ceiling/.

6.              Gimeno, L., et al., Generational differences in physical health and disability in the United States and Europe. medRxiv, 2024.

7.              Johnson, W., Li, L., Kuh, D., Hardy, R., How Has the Age-Related Process of Overweight or Obesity Development Changed over Time? Co-ordinated Analyses of Individual Participant Data from Five United Kingdom Birth Cohorts. PLOS Medicine, 2015. 12(5).

8.              Judge, L.M., Louise;, Under strain: Investigating trends in working-age disability and incapacity benefits. 2024, Resolution Foundation.

9.              Smith, N.R., et al., Adolescent mental health difficulties and educational attainment: findings from the UK household longitudinal study. BMJ Open, 2021. 11(7): p. e046792.

10.              Brown, H., N. Gao, and W. Song, Regional trends in mental health inequalities in young people aged 16–25 in the UK and the role of cuts to local government expenditure: Repeated cross-sectional analysis using the British household panel Survey/UK household longitudinal survey. Social Science & Medicine, 2024. 353: p. 117068.

11.              Centre for Longitudinal Studies Our studies. 2025  [cited 2025 10 April]; Available from: https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/cls-studies/.

12.              Department for Education Pupil parent matched data (PPMD): how we use and share data. 2024.

13.              Bhattacharya, A.C., Scott; Norman, Amy;, (Adult) education, education, education: How adult education can improve the life chances of those on low incomes. 2020, Social Mobility Foundation.

14.              Wadman, R.T., Olivia; Qualter, Pamela; Humphrey, Neil;, A country that works for all children and young people: Improving mental health and wellbeing within and through education settings. 2024, Child of the North.

15.              Cole, A.L., Nathan; Dodd, Flora, Arts for us All: Putting Culture and Creativity at the Heart of National Renewal. 2024, Fabian Society.

16.              Commission for Healthier Working Lives Towards a healthier workforce: Interim report of the Commission for Healthier Working Lives. 2024, The Health Foundation.

15 April 2025