Social mobility is all about creating a fairer, more equitable society. And that work starts within our own firm. We've been committed to improving social mobility for over a decade and are extremely proud to be leading in this space. The network has been recognised with the Highly Commended award Employee Network of the year 2023 at the Burberry British Diversity Awards and the activity that the network drives plays a pivotal role in making KPMG a socially mobile workplace and the only business to be ranked in the top 5 of the Social Mobility Employer Index (SMEI) since it started in 2017.
KPMG UK Social Mobility Employee Network (UpBringing) chairs
Commitments and recognition
Where we are now
These figures are based on those that have declared this information to us (72% of employees). Find out more about representation across our firm here. You can also find out about our 2024 Pay Gaps and how we’re addressing them here.
*Senior colleagues includes Partners, Directors and Senior Managers
Our social mobility action plan
As a firm, we’ve been committed to improving social mobility for over a decade and we’re extremely proud to be the only business to have featured amongst the top 5 in the Social Mobility Employer Index since it started in 2017. In 2024, we were recognised as ‘Organisation of the Year’ at the Social Mobility Awards.
“I’m passionate about the role organisations like ours play in driving equal opportunity for all, and we’re not the only business who believes in this. Over the summer we held our second annual Social Mobility Conference, bringing leaders from a range of organisations, community partners, and suppliers together to discuss how we address social mobility in the workplace.
Career advancement should be about realising potential, not background. It is through this belief, and longstanding focus in this area, that we’ve continued to make important progress. This includes publishing extensive analysis into the impact of socio-economic background on progression in our firm; the biggest ever performed by a single business. We also launched our “Opening Doors to Opportunities” initiative, which aims to give one million young people the opportunity to develop their skills by 2030."
Jon Holt / Group Chief Executive and UK Senior Partner
Jon Holt, Group Chief Executive and UK Senior Partner said: “I’m delighted that we are co-sponsoring the ‘Levelling the Playing Field’ guide. Improving opportunities for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds is not only a moral imperative, but an economic necessity for the professional services sector and the wider UK economy”.
In 2024 our colleagues selected FareShare as our national charity supporting the one in six people across the UK experiencing food poverty. And in June 2024, we hosted our second KPMG UK social mobility conference in London with over 150 attendees from organisations that share our vision from across the private, public and third sectors.
Our leaders represent our firm on groups such as Progress Together, Living Wage Advisory Council and Patchwork Foundation. We also apply a place-based approach to our community initiatives to make sure we're targeting the areas of greatest need, working alongside local stakeholders, governments and charities to help tackle regional inequalities. This includes supporting initiatives such as the Manchester Access Programme and King’s College Careers+.
We're also training all of our colleagues on socio-economic background and the invisible barriers that exist, to help raise awareness of unconscious bias and things all colleagues need to be mindful of.
By improving our data insight through new tools and technology and working with a diverse range of suppliers, we’re able to take a more holistic approach to IDE and better consider the impact and access for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds through the intersections of gender, ethnicity and disability. And through pioneering programmes such as New Futures and the opening of the “Redemption Roasters” café in our London office – which provide opportunities to prison leavers – we are supporting some of the hardest to reach and least socially mobile communities.
In 2022 we went a step further and published extensive analysis of the progression rates at our firm, which marked another important step in our social mobility journey. Socio-economic background was found to have the strongest effect on progression, compared to any other characteristic. As part of the research, we shared detail on the action we’re taking to tackle this, as well as a toolkit designed to help other businesses do the same.
In response to the findings, we launched a targeted promotion readiness programme ‘Reach’, to help support lower and intermediate socio-economic background colleagues to develop and progress at a comparable rate.
Across our recruitment processes, we’ve made a number of changes, for example, we use contextual recruitment methods for our graduate and apprentice hiring. This approach places greater focus on an individual’s overall potential and considers academic results in the context in which they were achieved, looking at both socio-economic background as well as any extenuating circumstances. As part of this, we’ve broadened entry requirements for specific programmes, such as our Technology graduate programmes and are working with a broader range of universities, schools and colleges to widen access.
Our Discovery work experience programme, in support of Access Accountancy, is dedicated to supporting young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, with many going on to apply for, and join, our apprenticeship programmes. While our One+1 programme, in collaboration with the Social Mobility Foundation and UpTree, matches placements provided for KPMG employees contacts with students without such connections. In 2024 the Discovery programme provided places to over 170 candidates and the One+1 programme provided placements to 164 individuals.