BUILDING BACK STRONGER
FOREWORD
Rt Hon Justine Greening Founder, Social Mobility Pledge
Social mobility means ensuring that people’s backgrounds don’t determine where they end up. It means that wherever you come from, you have equal access to opportunity; and fewer hidden barriers and bias to get in your way.
That’s why we should now organise one of Britain’s greatest assets - its purposeled business - towards boosting equality of opportunity across the country.
This is something that has characterised my own life - and so this matters to me personally.
It means I am working with businesses like Barratt Developments, who have demonstrated they understand putting together an Opportunity Action Plan ensures they can play their role in our country’s recovery.
In our country today, all too often determines where you finish. And while talent is spread evenly across the country, opportunity is not. A study by the OECD showed that levels of social mobility in the UK are one of the lowest across its nations. With the socioeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has likely worsened levels of social mobility, this has become more important now than ever. None of us should accept this. Everyone deserves a fair shot in life and a chance to go as far as their hard work and talent can take them. The good news is that we don’t need to accept the status quo, it can be changed. We can break down the barriers that hold people back at every stage in their life. I am under no illusion that this will be easy – there are no silver bullets. While the Government has put levelling up at the heart of its manifesto plans, it can’t do it alone.
I believe this is the smart thing to do for our country and our economy. But equally importantly, it is the right thing to do for our country’s people and communities. Barratt’s Plan provides a framework for action, and encompasses Barratt’s best practice and contribution to a wider understanding of business-led social mobility. From its work in the community exemplified by its partnership with the Beacon of Light in Sunderland, to its work on addressing the gender gap in construction through Built by Both and role modelling, Barratt has demonstrated a commitment to diversity and leaving a positive legacy. And now, Barratt can build on the best practice it has demonstrated, with a plan on further targeting its efforts towards the widest gaps, and collectively with other companies doing the same, it can transform equality of opportunity in this country.
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We are determined to lead the way, creating opportunities and building a stronger and more effective business at the same time.
FOREWORD Building back stronger For more than 60 years, Barratt Developments has been building homes, creating communities and helping achieve their aspirations. Whether it is someone starting out or looking for a second career – or a second chance – a first-time buyer or an expanding family – we are there for some life-defining moments. We take that responsibility seriously. It goes to the core of quality housebuilding – our purpose is creating high quality homes and great places, and creating a positive environmental, social and economic legacy that helps local communities go from strength to strength. Making the Social Mobility Pledge, founded by former Cabinet Minister, Rt Hon. Justine Greening, and UK entrepreneur David Harrison, underlines our commitment to that purpose. The significant challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic through 2020 have made it even more important than ever that businesses like ours lead with their purpose as we aim to build back stronger.
Widening pathways to opportunity Everyone in construction knows that the sector offers a wide variety of fantastic careers. There are opportunities to learn and to progress within a diverse range of roles and professions, from construction, through to sales, marketing, finance, IT and HR.
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However, it is no secret that the industry faces a growing skills gap – and a long-standing diversity gap. We are determined to lead the way, creating opportunities and building a stronger and more effective business at the same time. We do this by working locally, taking the time to understand our communities, and creating programmes and partnerships to maximise our impact. This report brings together some of those exceptional initiatives and partnerships. From the Beacon of Light in Sunderland to a St Mungo’s community garden in Bristol, we are giving people the tools to take a step forward. Working directly with schools through careers toolkits and supporting The Outward Bound mentoring programme, we are helping build for the future.
Playing our part in the recovery Barratt Developments, as the country’s leading housebuilder, a major employer and a responsible business will have a central role as the country looks to recover beyond the coronavirus pandemic. We are ready to play our part – creating jobs, building high-quality homes and sustainable places to live – working alongside communities and driving forward the social and economic recovery. This report reaffirms our commitment and we welcome the challenge set by Justine and the Social Mobility Pledge to go further in the years ahead, removing more barriers and helping people from every community and every walk of life to fulfil their potential and achieve their aspirations.
Meanwhile, our leading-edge apprenticeships and hugely successful Armed Forces Transition Programme are some of the practical ways that we are clearing obstacles out of the way and creating accessible routes into a construction career. We want to build without barriers and are committed to ensuring everyone reaches their potential. A diverse workforce with a range of voices and perspectives also helps improve decision-making and customer service. We have had particular success in encouraging more women to join us, whether that’s on site or in the Boardroom, but we know we can do more.
David Thomas Chief Executive Officer, Barratt Developments PLC
Barratt Developments Barratt Developments is one of the largest house builders in the country, delivering high-quality new homes and places. With over 6,000 employees, it operates through its six regions and 27 divisions across England, Wales and Scotland. Its vision is a future of housebuilding that puts customers at the heart of everything it does; and in doing so, building the homes the country needs, creating jobs and supporting economic growth. Going back more than 60 years, Barratt’s story is one of more than just a house-builder, but as a corporate citizen dedicated to leaving a strong and positive legacy with people, customers and local communities. This legacy extends to its own people too, with an ambition to create a diverse and driven workforce that reflects its communities, creating opportunities for all and investing in helping people achieve their aspirations. Barratt sees promoting diversity internally as more than just a good thing to do, but an essential part of the way it does business.
Barratt sees promoting diversity internally as more than just a good thing to do, but an essential part of the way it does business.
In the face of an increasing skills gap in the UK, attracting, recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce is a big challenge, particularly for the housebuilding and wider construction sector.
INTRODUCTION Low Social Mobility & The Opportunity Gap Social mobility is about ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to reach their potential. In a socially mobile society, there is equality of opportunity to progress in life. However, the country we have today does not always reflect that. Where you start out has a big influence on where you end up. Indeed, for many young people it seems that the link between demography and destiny is becoming stronger, rather than weaker. Britain’s social mobility problem is not just one of income ,or ‘class.’ It’s more complex than that.
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It is increasingly one of geography. A disappointing social mobility postcode lottery exists today, where the chances of someone from a disadvantaged background getting on in life is closely linked to where they grow up. An OECD study showed that income mobility was a reality for many people born between 1955 and 1975 from loweducated parents, but it has stagnated for those born after 1975. The United Kingdom is performing worse than the average OECD nation1. It has become clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is making many of these inequalities deeper and more pronounced— with many groups of people and geographic areas who already faced disadvantage
being disproportionality affected by both the health2 and socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic. The country now has a COVID Opportunity Gap, in addition to the one we already had3. With cases rising again, many face a difficult winter ahead. While it is right that the Government has a plan and is taking action to boost the economic recovery - Government can not do everything. Businesses play a leading role in the recovery – and helping build a fairer society on the other side. The Social Mobility Pledge is working with Britain’s purpose-led companies that have put spreading opportunities more evenly at the heart of how they do business. Barratt Developments is one of these leading companies.
It understands that it can retain skilled employees and leaders in the business, and the subcontractors it works with, by investing in their development and success. Barratt’s fundamental commitment is to build a workforce that reflects the communities in which it operates. It has shown a determination to overcome this challenge, boasting inclusive leadership, a business-wide commitment to increasing diversity, creating clear talent journeys for its people and widening the pathways for everyone to make a career in the house building industry. This is why Barratt has created and implemented specific initiatives, targeted at different groups, to encourage and enable a diverse and talented range of people into the sector, particularly underrepresented groups in local communities. This includes a strong commitment to tackling the under-representation of women in housebuilding and the wider construction sector. Built by Both initiative, a network for all within the sector to showcase the role women
have in the sector, formed from Barratt’s graduates’ participation in The Prince’s Trust ‘Million Makers’ challenge. Barratt’s female role models, from the boardroom to its construction sites, actively engage with employees, schools and communities to encourage more women to promote the benefits of a career in the industry, are examples where Barratt looks to support the commitment. It is also working to widening pathways into house building through its highly successful Armed Forces Transition Programme; its involvement in the Housebuilding Skills Partnership pathway programmes such as Women into Construction and GoConstruct, an industry-wide initiative with a candidatefocused website. It is clear Barratt takes the time to understand the communities where it works has developed a suite of locallydriven diversity action plans. There is no ‘one-size-fits all’ approach, rather a strategic and tailored approach to how it works and that seeks to respond to the needs and challenges of different regions and distinct groups. However, while the tactics may vary, one common target is to spread opportunity, promote careers and increase the prospects for young people. Barratt achieves this through school engagement, the provision of careers toolkits, mentoring, and through local initiatives like Barratt Construction Academy at the Beacon of Light in Sunderland, a partnership with The Foundation of Light. Barratt also has a strong record of supporting the least privileged groups in communities, such as through its work in partnership with Recycling Lives helping ex-offenders back into work; and supporting the homeless, or those at risk of homelessness, with the St. Mungo’s charity. While this report will highlight examples of best practice, the Opportunity Action Plan will also identify gaps and set out how Barratt Developments can take its commitment to social mobility and opportunity further. 1. OECD (2018): ‘A Broken Social Elevator? How to Promote Social Mobility’ 2. Rose TC, Mason K, Pennington A, McHale P, Taylor-Robinson DC, Barr B. Inequalities in COVID19 mortality related to ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation. medRxiv 2020; 2020.04.25.20079491. 3. Major, L. Machin, S. (2020). ‘Covid-19 is increasing the divide in life chances between the rich and poor.’ London School of Economics (LSE)
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BEST PRACTICE The Social Mobility Pledge has identified strong examples of best practice in boosting diversity within the company and wider sector; and in building strong links with local communities. As well as useful learnings for other businesses across sectors, it provides a strong foundation for Barratt to scale up.
A strategic and thought through approach to boosting diversity It is notable that Barratt has taken an impressive strategic and targeted approach to boosting diversity. It has an overall Diversity strategy agreed by the Board and which all areas in the business work to achieve through each of its regions and sub-divisions of the business, developing tailored diversity action plans. These look to review where gaps might exist in its current practices, and how the company can improve. These plans begin with the key provisions to ensure an accessible workplace, a fundamental pillar to ensuring a diverse workforce, as well as one that is inclusive for all groups, and extends to Barratt’s external commitments to local communities too. In terms of its internal workplace commitments, Barratt has been working with Whizz Kidz, as part of a three-year partnership, to run a project with the Kidz Board to identify ways in which offices and sites could be made more accessible for workers and customers with specific disabilities, and offering work experience placements. The workplace must be the right environment for people of all backgrounds, cultures and religions too. Therefore, it has set out to ensure that all its offices across regions have appropriate facilities for those of faith and different religions; and ranging to recruitment, making sure advertising roles on different boards to broaden the range of applications received, and throughout the process removing any unnecessary diversity barriers. The diversity action plans contain assessment on external engagement too, drawing on how the company can have a positive impact on local people and groups, such as schools and community groups, in its everyday contact points as a house builder.
Building strong links with local communities Barratt is committed to creating a positive environmental, social and economic legacy for future generations. This goes to the core of quality housebuilding – creating high quality homes and communities in great places, and ensuring we provide a positive legacy that helps local communities thrive. It has demonstrated a track record of delivering programmes and partnerships aimed at helping vulnerable groups in communities, and its support for schools and provision of work insights. Barratt amplifies its impact through targeted and tailored initiatives, delivered in partnership with community groups, charities and social enterprises.
Targeted, tailored and successful initiatives The Barratt Homes Construction Academy at The Beacon of Light Across the UK there are over 800,000 people aged 16-24 not in education, employment or training, with the highest number being in the North East. These statistics are likely to be worse following the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19. In recognition of this, Barratt has focused its North East community engagement on promoting careers within construction, up-skilling and enhancing employability for young people. In 2019, Barratt’s North East division joined forces with Sunderland Football Club’s Foundation of Light to launch its Barratt Homes Construction Academy at the charity’s Beacon of Light venue. The Beacon of Light – a sports, education and community hub in the city – works with over 300,000 individuals in local communities across South Tyneside and Durham, supporting less privileged groups.
The team at the Beacon of Light help to facilitate and deliver direct engagement with primary and secondary schools, often alongside colleagues from Barratt, engaging with young people not in employment, education or training, as well as working with parents, and those out of employment at all ages in those local communities. Barratt’s Construction Academy at the Beacon is a place for young people to learn new skills and build practical experience in the construction sector, while gaining work-ready qualifications. It also aims to demystify construction - demonstrating that a career in construction is not just bricklaying but promoting the many opportunities, including engineering, finance, carpentry, joinery, quantity surveying, human resources and many more. Barratt aims to support 400 learners every year at Construction Academy, with four bespoke programmes aimed at reaching different age groups. The aim is for 70% of learners to go onto education, training or employment, whether that is enrolling at South Tyneside and Sunderland College or into employment with Barratt Developments itself or its subcontractors. The Construction Academy’s provides a range of programmes to build confidence and experience while supporting the learning of new skills. Putting Down Roots with St. Mungo’s As part of a three-year partnership with St. Mungo’s, Barratt has supported its ‘Putting Down Roots’ initiative, which helps young people aged 16 to 24 years old, through social gardening and therapeutic horticulture. The project works in the Lewisham and Waltham Forest areas of London, as well as in Bristol and Oxfordshire. The aim is to help vulnerable young people improve their physical and mental wellbeing through gardening, growing organic vegetables and landscaping. It also promotes access to green spaces, breaking down barriers for vulnerable people, giving them engaged with
a sense of belonging and building sustainable communities. At the end of the programme, participants can receive an OCN Horticulture Level One qualification - and the key ambition is to support progression into employment. Creating opportunities for ex-offenders Barratt works with the social enterprise Recycling Lives to engage with people from disadvantaged backgrounds, including those who have spent time in prison, and help them back into the workforce. Recycling Lives’ HMP Academies programme runs prison-based workshops and supports offenders to improve their life and work skills ahead of release. The partnership has also resulted in a young person being directly recruited through Recycling Lives following an interview while they were still serving their sentence. Outside of this partnership, it also works directly with a number of HMPs on the South coast, providing work experience and career advice to young offenders. For Barratt, this is not about virtue signalling, but about creating opportunities, while also satisfying the business imperative of addressing the industry skills shortage.
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Supporting The Prince’s Trust’s Million Makers Since 2012 Barratt’s graduates have been participating in The Prince’s Trust’s ‘Million Makers’ initiative, a national competition that puts their business acumen, teamworking skills and creativity to the test in a series of challenges. Between 2014 and 2019, Barratt’s graduates have raised over £200,000 for The Prince’s Trust, with the 2018/19 team winning a regional final, securing a place in the national final, and raising a record-breaking £84,386 for the charity in the process. Previously, the 2017/2018 team designed and ran a series of events and workshops in local schools, promoting diversity and inclusion into house building and construction. In the previous year, Barratt designed the Built by Both programme, which is still running (see 2.3.1). Barratt’s involvement in Million Makers has enabled up to 100 young people to access four-week skills courses in their chosen progression, as well as supporting many young people to take part in personal development, social inclusion and selfemployment programmes. These are aimed at groups that are the furthest away from opportunities.
Barratt’s own workforce is made up of approximately 69% men and 31% women, meaning this is more than double the national average of women in construction.
Providing career insight, mentoring and academic opportunities Careers Toolkits Barratt goes beyond simple outreach with schools and supports teachers to create more meaningful engagement with their students. This centres around supporting the academic curriculum in schools across STEM disciplines, by creating its own Careers Toolkits for Year 9 students across secondary schools, which are distributed through its housebuilding divisions at school careers events. The Careers Toolkit provides teachers with materials they can use to reference the industry within the curriculum. It aims to increase the foundational knowledge base of the construction sector, and supplement with essential careers advice for those interested in pursuing opportunities in the sector. Through the Toolkit, Barratt also aims to boost diversity within the sector in the long-term and to tackle the underrepresentation of women in the industry, and challenge teacher and parent perceptions of it.
Mentoring Barratt recognises that while wide engagement has its benefits, the most successful type of engagement is by developing personal relationships and providing meaningful support through mentoring. This is why Barratt created a three-year partnership with the Outward Bound Trust in 2019. As well as funding places on residential courses for 2,400 young people who live near to their developments, Barratt will create over 80 mentoring relationships over the three years. The Outward Bound Trust is an educational charity that seeks to help young people to defy limitations through learning and insight into the workplace, with the aim of developing the attitudes, skills and behaviours young people need to make positive changes in their lives. This mentoring programme is based around creating consistent support for students for maximum impact, as opposed to one-off or ad-hoc contact points, supporting young people from the least privileged groups onto further or higher education, employment or training thereafter. It also a key partner with the West Midlands Construction University Technical College providing mentoring opportunities and work experience through local divisions.
Widening pathways into construction and boosting diversity
Statistics for April to June 2020, women only make up 13.32% of the construction sector. This is little improvement since two decades ago, whereby the amount of women in the construction sector has always fluctuated around the 10% figure.
While Built by Both was set up by Barratt graduates, and supported off the ground by Barratt, it has become an industrywide initiative to promote diversity in the wider house building and construction sector as a whole.
Barratt’s diversity and inclusion agenda is underpinned by its ambition to have a workforce that authentically reflects local communities.
It is therefore clear that this is the most significant diversity and equality gap in the construction sector – and this is something that clearly has not been missed by Barratt.
Whether it’s out on the tools, in sales or any of the many opportunities in the sector, it’s important that gender diversity is a priority for any house builder - and it’s reassuring to see that Barratt is not only prioritising it, but encouraging and empowering its graduates to take leadership and drive forward initiatives too.
While the housebuilding sector has a natural strength in terms of socioeconomic social mobility, with wider access points for less privileged groups than many sectors, Barratt Developments is ambitious about addressing the remaining areas for improvement across all under-represented groups. For Barratt, one of these key focus areas has been on the biggest representation gap in construction - which is reflected in the low number of women in the house building sector as a whole.
Addressing the Gender Gap in the Construction sector The gender gap in the construction sector is something that would seem obvious to most, just by looking at most development sites, but the numbers are concerning. According to the most recent figures produced by the Office for National
Barratt’s own workforce is made up of approximately 69% men and 31% women, meaning this is more than double the national average of women in construction. Building on its own strong foundations, it has key programmes to redress the gender balance in the sector over the long-term. For example, its graduate-led Built by Both programme which is designed for the wider sector, and its use of role models to break the gender perceptions in housebuilding and the wider construction industry. Built By Both Barratt graduates launched the Built by Both scheme, an industry wide initiative designed to provide a networking forum that aims to demonstrate that the housebuilding sector is built by both genders and to actively promote the potential career opportunities for women.
Women role models The best way to promote a career in construction for women is through role models on site and in leadership positions, whose story and experiences can truly resonate with those who may be looking at the sector. Barratt has shown it does not just want to engage for token reasons, but to have impact and outcomes from the engagement, and for the engagement to lead to a new diverse workforce throughout the construction sector. Barratt has many examples of women in key roles promoting and inspiring others regarding opportunities in the sector, through links with local schools, Professional bodies and campus teams. It has numerous backstories which show different routes into the industry spearheading engagement to promote careers to women, and tackle the gender gap. Barratt also wants to retain and support women to progress their career with them. It is investing its future female leaders through its Catalyst programme, this has now been running for three years providing leadership development for potential female leaders within the business, supported by a reverse Mentoring approach. With a target for 35% of female employees to be in management grades by the end of 2021, Catalyst is a key part of making that happen.
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CASE STUDY Tapping into untapped talent pools: Armed Forces Transition Programme Barratt recognises that to be the best company it can be, and to bridge the ever-increasing national skills gap, it needs to reach into wider talent pools – but it can also have a social impact at the same time. Armed forces veterans have the ideal training and skills for a successful career in construction and site management, but can struggle to transition back into civilian life. This is why Barratt introduced the Armed Forces Transition Programme, which is a 12-month programme with all the appropriate training and a pathway of progression to become an Assistant Site Manager on completion. Participants are taught in-depth industry knowledge and relevant technical skills to prepare them for the demands of running a site, with modules ranging from general construction knowledge to examples of best practice. This is supported by a matrix of Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) training, and includes a module at a Simulation Centre where programme participants have the opportunity to put into practice everything they have learned, to ensure all learnings are to a high standard. The Armed Forces Transition Programme is an entry pathway built on the ethos of progression and provides routes into roles such as site management and contracts management.
Measuring progress of widening pathways & reducing bias Barratt recognises that in sync with its ambition to widen pathways into construction to boost diversity, it must also measure the success it is having in doing this. Barratt’s leading-edge Applicant Tracking System (ATS) has proven how the company is committed to moving forward with cutting-edge solutions.
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The ATS enables Barratt to assess how broad its diversity and talent base is, with the ability monitor and track progression of candidates through its attraction and recruitment processes, providing data to continuously improve its recruitment processes and progression pathways. The new system was introduced in 2018 and has now equipped Barratt with the capacity to provide transparency of reporting and to help focus its decisions and activity, and therefore drive action. Its processes currently blank out diversity factors such as ethnicity, religion and backgrounds, to remove discrimination, and the company is considering a potentially revolutionary pilot of name-blind recruitment for entry-level roles. The ATS system has the ability to ask questions, such as free school meals, and offers wider ways to track various segments of socioeconomic diversity across its recruitment, intake and progression. Barratt’s introduction of an industryleading ATS is a testament to its ambitions of tracking and boosting diversity.
Talent Development Against the backdrop of a national skills shortage, Barratt recognises its responsibility to create a workforce of highly skilled individuals is more important than ever. It sees this responsibility extending beyond the success of its own company, but across the industry, its customers and local communities too.
Opportunities to learn with Barratt’s Degree Apprenticeships Barratt, in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University, were the first to offer a bespoke degree in residential development construction management in 2013. This converted to a Degree
Apprenticeship in 2020.Set up as a residential programme, it sought to address a two-fold opportunity gap.
Rebecca Roberts Site Manager, Barratt Homes South Wales
Firstly, not every young person wants to go to university for three or four years, but this does not mean young people do not want qualifications. Secondly, many within its workforce wish they had earned more qualifications earlier in their careers, or before beginning their careers, but may not have had the opportunity to do so.
‘It was rare to see another woman on site when I first joined the sector 15 years ago, but thankfully now it’s much more the norm.
The Degree Apprenticeship was created to strengthen the opportunity for students to gain more extensive qualifications alongside work in the belief that opportunities in life should not be a binary choice between going straight into work and getting higher qualifications. Those that join the Degree Apprenticeship are not just young people. They are also those who join mid-career; and are not just those entering housebuilding from external origins. They are also those already working at Barratt who want to continue their development and receive a degree. This is a further testament to the strength and diversity of these opportunities within Barratt. Between Barratt’s construction expertise, and Sheffield Hallam’s academic expertise, the programme has been successful in filling talent pipelines and planning colleague succession, as well as having the wider social benefit of opening up construction and corporate roles outside of the classic university pipeline. Outcomes have also been promising for participants of the degree apprenticeship already. Some have gone on to become Assistant Site Managers while others have secured promotions after completing the programme. This has proven itself to be a strong option for those who don’t want to go to university, with 86 degree apprentices currently on both the commercial and technical Degree Apprenticeships . This is an approach that other house builders and construction companies should adopt where possible.
‘The crucial thing is that we need to shine the spotlight on those females who are doing well so that the new generation coming through view gender as less of a barrier. We need to do much more to win the battle against the stereotype that building jobs are just for men. ‘Barratt Homes has a very progressive outlook in terms of encouraging women into top roles. Because of that, more women are coming forward to the point where Barratt actually recruits a very diverse workforce.
‘Sure my role here is tough but it is empowering and rewarding, all the things that many young women aspire to in their careers. And as more women join the industry, I hope it will spur on even more to join in future years.’
CASE STUDY Greig Mills Site Manager, Barratt David Wilson Exeter ‘The training that I have received from start to finish on the programme has been fantastic. I was put on a site with an experienced team who took their time to help me comfortably make the transition.
‘As a former marine I had lots of transferable skills, which I was able to take onto site. Working in a management role whilst I was in the forces, I was keen not to have to take a step down and go back to learning a trade. ‘There aren’t many job opportunities in management when you leave the forces, so this programme with Barratt, which trains you up, helps you gain a qualification and gives you the best chance of going as far in the business as possible. The scheme is brilliant.”
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CASE STUDY Levelling up skills through Barratt’s Trade Apprenticeships
Carl Sobelewski Managing Director, Barratt Homes North East ‘I joined Barratt in 2007 on the Aspire Graduate Programme, and throughout the programme I did various managerial courses. Barratt also supported me through the CIMA accounting qualification.
Barratt’s Trade Programme is a strong example of how it is creating wider pathways for young people, and particularly school leavers, to earn while they learn skills to prepare them for a future career in construction. At the same time, the programme supports the wider national skills pipeline and raises standards across the industry too.
‘After the two-year graduate scheme I made it as an accountant at Barratt North Midlands, then progressing on as regional accountant for the East Region, and in 2011 I moved to Barratt Northampton as Finance Manager and then Finance Director. ‘In 2018 I was promoted to the role of Managing Director for the North East division of Barratt Homes.
This is a popular programme, with 2,200 applications for 120 vacancies in the first eight weeks of this year. Barratt aims to employ approximately 300 apprentices at any one time; learning skills in carpentry, joinery and bricklaying to help build the high quality homes of the future. Given the nature of the housebuilding sector being largely reliant on subcontractors, once the apprentices have completed apprenticeships with Barratt ‘in-house,’ they then often progress onto working with subcontractor companies on Barratt sites across the UK, ensuring Barratt’s homes are built to its high quality standards. Barratt also often sees past apprentices coming back after 2-3 years’ experience ‘on the tools’ and into Barratt’s management force. Barratt encourages progression beyond the programme. Apprentices can choose to work with their subcontractors, set up themselves as self-employed, or in some areas of the country work at Barratt permanently as a qualified tradesperson, and about one in ten apprentices carry on training through its Assistant Site Manager Programme or go on to do one of its Sponsored Degree Programmes. Barratt continually monitors completion and progression of its apprentices in order to measure success and refine the programme provided with its providers. The programme also has a strong record on organically boosting social mobility. While for the apprenticeship programmes there is no conscious effort to recruit from certain postcodes, Barratt’s apprentices tend to come from less privileged areas, with 25% of apprentices in the bottom three deciles of index of multiple deprivation.
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“The Graduate Programme really helped me develop into who I am now, and I still draw on my time in the programme.” ‘No industry is like the one we work in. It’s a life changing product we’re manufacturing and it’s really rewarding at the end of the development.’
This means the programme is naturally a strong opportunity generator for some of the least privileged communities in the UK.
Pathways for graduates through Barratt’s ASPIRE Programme
Demystifying Construction through Barratt’s Commercial & Technical Apprenticeships
The ASPIRE Programme is a two-year programme aimed at graduates from all academic backgrounds and seeks to develop Barratt’s leaders and managers of the future.
Barratt recognises there are perceptions of the construction sector that exist and has set out to challenge them. The Commercial Degree Apprenticeship offer the opportunity for people to specialise in quantity surveying, design, engineering and buying. A new Technical Degree Apprenticeship is set to be launched in 2021. These programmes are a testament to the fact that career opportunities in housebuilding and construction go far beyond bricklaying. This forms part of Barratt’s wider ambition to demystify careers in the housebuilding sector and wider construction; and in doing so, boost diversity in the wider commercial areas of the business and sector too.
It is unique in that in the first year it provides six two-month placements on rotation to give programme participants insight into different departments within the business. The second year focuses on developing a specialism within one of the areas while building leadership and project management skills. The group are also tasked with developing and running a project for social good. Barratt consistently reviews the programme to remove any unnecessary barriers for talent from different backgrounds, such as ineffective or irrelevant metrics for career destinations. For example, Barratt questioned the importance of its former requirement
of potential graduates having an Upper Second Class Honours (2.1) to qualify for the programme. On concluding this metric was unnecessary and a potential barrier, it has since lowered this requirement to a Lower Second Class Honours (2:2) from any higher education institution. This itself is a strong example of how Barratt has reviewed how ‘diversity friendly’ many of its policies are, and have subsequently reformed how its programmes work, and as a result has widened the pathways into careers in the company.
Progression & Succession Career Paths One of the fundamental parts of laying the foundations for progression is ensuring everyone who joins the business knows what pathways for progression look like, where they could end up in five or ten years’ time, and ensuring that the journey is truly inclusive.
Barratt believes that even the newest recruits to the company have the opportunity to receive clear advice on what each of their tailored career paths could look like from the beginning, regardless of their seniority or which department of the company they are in. Making the career paths and progression routes, often up to five or six promotions ahead, are the types of conversations Barratt wants to encourage. Clear role profiles and progression pathways support these open conversations. This is not only the right thing to do, but also good for business, as it seeks to foster a culture of colleagues that are motivated and incentivised to succeed. Progression is important to the business model in terms of succession planning; ensuring Barratt has all the skills it will require to build high quality homes many years ahead, particularly in the context of a skills gap in the wider house building and construction sectors. This is important for social mobility, something that should not just top at the point of recruitment.
Boosting Wellbeing through the Employee Assistance Scheme Barratt recognises that one of the most fundamental pillars to ensuring an inclusive working environment is by prioritising the wellbeing of all employees and supporting colleagues when they need it most. Barratt’s Employee Assistance Scheme, in partnership with Unum Lifeworks, provides advice and services to help employees deal with events and issues in their everyday work and personal lives. This includes expert guidance on health, financial, personal, relationship and work-related issues through 24/7 telephone, online support and up to six counselling sessions for all employees. It also provides support for the immediate families of employees. The Employee Assistance Scheme is an impressive testament to Barratt’s focus on the wellbeing of all its employees, and in recognition that to really boost inclusion in the workplace, it is important to ensure colleagues are supported through the tough times in life - and that they know they have a support mechanism in place whenever they might come about.
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Barratt has proven its will to not just look for the easy wins across the responsible business agenda, but also take on some of the widest opportunity gaps and the most significant challenges.
INSIGHTS & ANALYSIS OF BEST PRACTICE Barratt’s philosophy of leaving a positive legacy in the communities around its developments has been clearly demonstrated by its strategic approach in making a social impact across society. It demonstrated a unique and impressive commitment to this as it set out to prepare diversity action plans for its division and subdivisions throughout the company, with the aim of identifying where barriers to diversity existed, and to set out to improve against the new targets set out. Through developing these plans, Barratt has demonstrated a strategic and considered approach to boosting diversity both nationally and locally. Barratt has demonstrated a highly successful track record in generating positive outcomes in local communities, across its engagement with schools, and through initiatives such as the Barratt Homes Construction Academy, in partnership with Sunderland AFC’s Foundation and the Beacon of Light. Barratt has been supporting vulnerable groups across the UK, whether that is working with St Mungo’s to help people who are or are at risk of being homeless or supporting organisations such as Recycling Lives to help rehabilitate exoffenders and create opportunities for meaningful employment, including within Barratt itself. Barratt has proven its will to not just look for the easy wins across the responsible business agenda, but also take on some of the widest opportunity gaps and the most significant challenges. Barratt has set out to increase the diversity of pathways into housebuilding and the wider construction sector, and specifically address the poor record of the sector in drawing and retaining female talent into roles, with only 13.32% of the sector being female according
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to the most recent data produced up to June 2020. Barratt has empowered its graduates to lead on these solutions and create a legacy project, Built by Both, to champion the involvement of females and males in the sector, and create a network for women with ambitions to enter the sector. It is also creating opportunities for young people to earn qualifications such as degrees without the fees through its popular degree apprenticeship programme. This currently has 86 on the programme and caters for of all ages, many of which are school leavers, but also includes members of Barratt’s workforce who might be mid-career but wish to study towards a degree or higher qualification. Furthermore, Barratt has looked to address where business needs overlap with societal issues which it can have a positive impact on. One of these is its ability to target opportunities, in training and work, towards groups which might constitute untapped talent pools, and traditionally face more significant barriers into entering skilled work. This also fits a business need with an increasing deficit of a skilled workforce in house building and construction sectors in the UK. Barratt is tapping into untapped talent pools namely through its Armed Forces Transition Programme, as it seeks to make the progression into civilian life easier for former servicemen, by helping train, mentor and support them into careers in the sector.
The company has also demonstrated a strong ethos of innovation as it consistently reviews its progress and performance on boosting diversity and testing how fit for purpose its current ways of working are. As such, Barratt’s new data-led approach is utilising an industry-leading Applicant Tracking System to benchmark diversity performance across its attraction and recruitment processes. This is currently used to blank out diversity characteristics to reduce any potential discrimination in the recruitment process.. The system gives Barratt the potential to track further socioeconomic diversity statistics, such as free school meals, in the future. In summary, Barratt Developments has shown how putting diversity and widening opportunities can be more than just a responsible business agenda, but actually at the heart of a central business agenda. It is working hard to close both skills and opportunity gaps, while building a diverse workforce that have the tools to build the highest quality homes, and put customers and communities first. It has integrated and interwoven its ambitions on diversity into how it operates as a business everyday, leaving a positive legacy in the communities around the sites it builds, and making progress towards building a more diverse house building and construction sector. The Social Mobility Pledge has recognised Barratt’s commendable elements of best practice, and in this Opportunity Action Plan, it has identified how it can make an ever greater social impact. This includes how it can amplify its efforts internally; and also through highlighting social mobility cold spots around its sites where it could redirect its focus on community efforts.
COMMUNITY GAPS Boosting social mobility and life outcomes is a long-term challenge involving factors across life stages and geographic locations. This has taken into account two studies of data. Firstly, data produced of overall life chances by adulthood throughout local authorities, produced in September 2020 by the UK Government’s Social Mobility Commission. Secondly, it considers data produced in the most recent House of Commons Library Social Mobility Index, made up of four key life stages, and here considering 14 key data-sets, from which the HC Library generated rankings of constituency—level social mobility across the UK. This uses the relative social mobility performance of the most the least privileged groups, such as those entitled to free school meals, across the life stages. This Index, albeit the most recent full Index, was produced in October 2018, and is the same type of methodology that informed the Government’s Opportunity Areas programme. They allow a more informed approach, from which businesses can more precisely target their community engagement and wider social efforts to make a more informed and significant impact. The data below identifies areas across the country that have been identified as the best and worst performing in terms of outcomes for the specific life stages addressed.
Part A - Social Mobility Cold Spots Social Mobility research conducted in 323 local authorities in England and Wales shows the top 20% of local authorities are labelled as ‘hotspots’, areas where social mobility is good, and the bottom 20% of local authorities are identified as ‘cold spots’, areas where social mobility is poor. The Social Mobility Pledge has identified opportunity gaps, or social mobility cold spots, around some of Barratt Developments key sites. This insight can help focus and enhance its programme of community engagement to boost outcomes in these communities. This would fulfil Barratt’s objective to leave a positive legacy in the communities around its sites - and is a targeting principle that Barratt can then look to scale out from its initial pilot of enhanced community engagement in these areas to other opportunity gaps and cold spots too. The areas identified include Great Grimsby, Portsmouth South, Mid Worcestershire, and Mansfield.
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Great Grimsby Early Years
25/533
508/533
97
Percentage of children eligible for free school meals achieving a good level of development
59
53
Great Grimsby
England
462/533
60 83
Percentage of children eligible for FSM achieving at least the expected level in reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage 2
37 39
Percentage of children eligible for FSM attending a secondary school rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
43 72
Average Attainment 8 score for pupils eligible for FSM
36 39
With three of its indicators in the top 100 rankings and seven in the bottom 100; across all life stages, Great Grimsby ranks at 459 out of 533 areas on the Social Mobility Index. Overall, Great Grimsby is a social mobility cold spot. Early Years
Youth
Adulthood
At the early years stage, Great Grimsby performs extremely well at 25th out of the Index’s 533 areas. Ninety-seven percent of nurseries in the constituency are rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted, better than the national average of 93% and ranking Great Grimsby as 60/533 for this measure.
The youth stage sees Great Grimsby rise to rank at 462 out of 533. Eightyfour percent of young people who were eligible for free schools find themselves in a positive destination (defined as being in education, employment, or training) after completing Key Stage 4.
At the adulthood life stage, Great Grimsby is one of the lowest performing areas of the country, as it ranks at 519th out of 533 areas on the Index. A very high number (36%) of jobs pay less than the real living wage, and average earnings are £338 weekly – the English average is £443.
Twenty-two percent of FSM-eligible young people will achieve two or more A Level or equivalent qualifications by age 19, those that do take A Levels will have an average points score per entry of 26. Great Grimsby ranks at 511 and 280 for these measures respectively.
Although housing is only five times the annualised salary, the 50th most affordable area in England (where houses are eight times the annualised salary), home ownership is at 59%, the 111th worst area for this measure. The percentage of jobs in the area that are managerial and professional stands at 18%.
Percentage of young people eligible for FSM that are not in education, employment or training (positive destination) after completing KS4
84 88
Average points score per entry for young people eligible for FSM at age 15 taking A-level or equivalent qualification
26 26
Percentage of young people eligible for FSM at age 15 achieving two or more A-Levels or equivalent by the age of 19
22 34
School Years
Median weekly salary of all employees who live in the local area Average house prices compared to median annual salary of employees who live in the local area
519/533
Great Grimsby Analysis
In the other measure for this life stage, the percentage of children eligible for free school meals achieving a ‘good level of development’, Great Grimsby is ranked 71st out of 533; 59% of those children achieve a good level compared to the national average of 53%.
Adulthood
93
Percentage of children eligible for FSM attending a primary school rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
Youth
England
Percentage of Nursery providers rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
Schools
Great Grimsby
Great Grimsby
Great Grimsby
England
England
338 443 5 8
Percentage of people that live in the local area who are in managerial and professional occupations
18
Percentage of jobs that are paid less than the applicable Living Wage Foundation living wage
36 25
Percentage of families with children who own their home
59 65
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Ranking at 508th out of 533 areas at the school years life stage, Great Grimsby is amongst the worst areas. Only 60% of pupils eligible for free school meals attend good or outstanding primary schools, with 37% of them achieving the expected level in reading, writing, and maths at the end of Key Stage 2, the national average being 39%. At secondary level, attendance of FSM eligible pupils at good or outstanding schools is 43%, making Great Grimsby the 63rd worst area on the Index, and an average Attainment 8 score of 36 places Great Grimsby at 424/533.
*Data reflecting most recent HC Library Social Mobility Index (Oct, 2018)
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21
Portsmouth South Early Years
221/533
376/533
89
Percentage of children eligible for free school meals achieving a good level of development
60
53
Portsmouth South
England
523/533
62 83
Percentage of children eligible for FSM achieving at least the expected level in reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage 2
37 39
Percentage of children eligible for FSM attending a secondary school rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
75 72
Average Attainment 8 score for pupils eligible for FSM
42 39
England
83 88
Average points score per entry for young people eligible for FSM at age 15 taking A-level or equivalent qualification
20 26
Percentage of young people eligible for FSM at age 15 achieving two or more A-Levels or equivalent by the age of 19
26 34
Median weekly salary of all employees who live in the local area Average house prices compared to median annual salary of employees who live in the local area
460/533
Portsmouth South
Percentage of young people eligible for FSM that are not in education, employment or training (positive destination) after completing KS4
Adulthood
93
Percentage of children eligible for FSM attending a primary school rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
Youth
England
Percentage of Nursery providers rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
Schools
Portsmouth South
Percentage of people that live in the local area who are in managerial and professional occupations
Portsmouth South
England
409 443 7 8 27
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Percentage of jobs that are paid less than the applicable Living Wage Foundation living wage
26 25
Percentage of families with children who own their home
46 65
Portsmouth South Analysis With only one of its indicators in the top 100 rankings and five in the bottom 100; across all life stages, Portsmouth South ranks at 496/533 on the Social Mobility Index. Portsmouth South is a social mobility cold spot - and has been identified as performing particularly low for youth outcomes, for which it is the 11th lowest performing in the country according to the Index. Early Years At the early years stage, Portsmouth South performs fairly averagely, at 221 out of 533 areas on the Index rankings. Eighty-nine percent of nurseries in the constituency are rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted, worse than the national average of 93%, ranking Portsmouth South as 451st out of 533 for this measure. In the alternative measure for this life stage, the percentage of children eligible for free school meals achieving a ‘good level of development’, Portsmouth South is ranked 41st out of 533; 60% of those children achieve a good level compared to the national average of 53%.
School Years Ranking at 376th out of 533 areas at the school stage, Portsmouth South is in the bottom 30% of constituencies.
Sixty-two percent of pupils eligible for free school meals attend good or outstanding primary schools, with 37% of them achieving the expected level in reading, writing, and maths at the end of Key Stage 2, the national average being 39%. At secondary level, attendance of FSM eligible pupils at good or outstanding schools is 75%, making Portsmouth South the 265th best constituency, and an average Attainment 8 score of 42 places Portsmouth South at 108th out of 533.
Youth The youth stage sees Portsmouth South fall to its worst position, ranked at 523rd out of 533 areas. This makes Portsmouth South the eleventh worst area in the country for this measure. The Index shows that eighty-three percent of young people who were eligible for free schools find themselves in a positive destination (defined as
being in education, employment, or training) after completing Key Stage 4. Twenty-six percent of FSM-eligible young people will achieve two or more A Level or equivalent qualifications by age 19, those that do take A Levels will have an average points score per entry of 20. Portsmouth South ranks at 427 and 509 for these measures respectively.
Adulthood At the adulthood life stage, Portsmouth South ranks 460th out of 533 areas. With 26% of jobs paying less than the real living wage, average earnings are £409 weekly. Housing is seven times the annualised salary, slightly cheaper than average, but home ownership is extremely low at 46%, a bottom 40 ranking for this measure. The percentage of jobs in the area that are managerial and professional stands at 27%, ranking Portsmouth South at 334 out of 533 for this measure.
*Data reflecting most recent HC Library Social Mobility Index (Oct, 2018)
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23
Mid Worcestershire Early Years
513/533
447/533
92
Percentage of children eligible for free school meals achieving a good level of development
41
53
Mid Worcestershire
England
502/533
88 83
Percentage of children eligible for FSM achieving at least the expected level in reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage 2
18 39
Percentage of children eligible for FSM attending a secondary school rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
91 72
Average Attainment 8 score for pupils eligible for FSM
33 39
With none of its indicators in the top 100 rankings and five in the bottom 100; across all life stages, Mid Worcestershire ranks at 522 out of 533 on the Social Mobility Index. The area is a social mobility coldspot. Early Years
Youth
At the early years life stage, Mid Worcestershire performs most poorly at 513th out of 533 areas. Ninety-two percent of nurseries in the constituency are rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted, worse than the national average of 93% and ranking Mid Worcestershire as 358/533 for this measure.
The youth stage sees Mid Worcestershire fall to rank at 502nd out of 533 areas. Eighty-four percent of young people who were eligible for free schools find themselves in a positive destination (defined as being in education, employment, or training) after completing Key Stage 4. Twenty-four percent of FSMeligible young people will achieve two or more A Level or equivalent qualifications by age 19, those that do take A Levels will have an average points score per entry of 23. Mid Worcestershire ranks at 480th and 423rd for these measures respectively.
Adulthood
Percentage of young people eligible for FSM that are not in education, employment or training (positive destination) after completing KS4
84 88
Average points score per entry for young people eligible for FSM at age 15 taking A-level or equivalent qualification
23 26
Percentage of young people eligible for FSM at age 15 achieving two or more A-Levels or equivalent by the age of 19
24 34
School Years
Median weekly salary of all employees who live in the local area Average house prices compared to median annual salary of employees who live in the local area
248/533
Mid Worcestershire Analysis
In the other measure for this life stage, the percentage of children eligible for free school meals achieving a ‘good level of development’, Mid Worcestershire is ranked 529 out of 533; only 41% of those children achieve a good level compared to the national average of 53%.
Adulthood
93
Percentage of children eligible for FSM attending a primary school rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
Youth
England
Percentage of Nursery providers rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
Schools
Mid Worcestershire
Mid Worcestershire
Mid Worcestershire
England
England
404 443 8 8
Percentage of people that live in the local area who are in managerial and professional occupations
32
Percentage of jobs that are paid less than the applicable Living Wage Foundation living wage
27 25
Percentage of families with children who own their home
72 65
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Ranking at 447 out of 533 areas at the school stage, Mid Worcestershire is in the bottom 20% of constituencies. While 88% of pupils eligible for free school meals attend good or outstanding primary schools, only 18% of them achieve the expected level in reading, writing, and maths at the end of Key Stage 2, the national average being 39%. This is the worst ranking of all constituencies. At secondary level, attendance of FSM eligible pupils at good or outstanding schools is 91%, making Mid Worcestershire the 126th best constituency, but an average Attainment 8 score of 33 places Mid Worcestershire at 515 out of 533.
At the adulthood life stage, Mid Worcestershire ranks at 248th out of 533 areas. With 27% of jobs pay less than the real living wage, average earnings are £404 weekly – the English average is £443. Housing is eight times the annualised salary, on par for the rest of England, and home ownership is high at 72%, the 143rd best area for this measure. The percentage of jobs in the area that are managerial and professional stands at 32%, ranking Mid Worcestershire at 215th out of 533 areas for this measure.
*Data reflecting most recent HC Library Social Mobility Index (Oct, 2018)
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25
Mansfield Early Years
466/533
390/533
91
Percentage of children eligible for free school meals achieving a good level of development
48
53
Mansfield
England
500/533
80 83
Percentage of children eligible for FSM achieving at least the expected level in reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage 2
36 39
Percentage of children eligible for FSM attending a secondary school rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
73 72
Average Attainment 8 score for pupils eligible for FSM
34 39
With none of its indicators in the top 100 rankings and seven in the bottom 100; across all life stages, Mansfield ranks at 524/533 on the Social Mobility Index. The area is a social mobility coldspot. Youth
Percentage of young people eligible for FSM that are not in education, employment or training (positive destination) after completing KS4
82 88
Average points score per entry for young people eligible for FSM at age 15 taking A-level or equivalent qualification
27 26
Adulthood
Median weekly salary of all employees who live in the local area Average house prices compared to median annual salary of employees who live in the local area
516/533
Mansfield Analysis
The youth stage sees Mansfield fall to rank at 500th out of 533. Eighty-two percent of young people who were eligible for free schools find themselves in a positive destination (defined as being in education, employment, or training) after completing Key Stage 4. Twenty percent of FSM-eligible young people will achieve two or more A Level or equivalent qualifications by age 19, those that do take A Levels will have an average points score per entry of 27. Mansfield ranks at 528 and 253 for these measures respectively.
Percentage of young people eligible for FSM at age 15 achieving two or more A-Levels or equivalent by the age of 19
Adulthood
93
Percentage of children eligible for FSM attending a primary school rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
Youth
England
Percentage of Nursery providers rated outstanding or good by Ofsted
Schools
Mansfield
Mansfield
England
20 34
Mansfield
England
355 443 5 8
Percentage of people that live in the local area who are in managerial and professional occupations
16
Percentage of jobs that are paid less than the applicable Living Wage Foundation living wage
38 25
Percentage of families with children who own their home
66 65
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Early Years
School Years
At the early years life stage, Mansfield performs poorly at 466 out of 533 areas. Ninety-one percent of nurseries in the constituency are rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted, worse than the national average of 93% and ranking Mansfield as 402nd out of 533 for this measure. In the other measure for this life stage, the percentage of children eligible for free school meals achieving a ‘good level of development’, Mansfield is ranked 433rd out of 533; 48% of those children achieve a good level compared to the national average of 53%.
Ranking at 390th out of 533 areas at the school stage, Mansfield is in the bottom 30% of constituencies, with 80% of pupils eligible for free school meals attend good or outstanding primary schools. Only 36% of them achieved the expected level in reading, writing, and maths at the end of Key Stage 2, compared to the national average of 39%. At secondary level, attendance of FSM eligible pupils at good or outstanding schools is 73%, making Mansfield the 273rd best constituency, and an average Attainment 8 score of 34 places Mansfield at 481st out of 533.
At the adulthood life stage, Mansfield ranks at 516/533. With 38% of jobs paying less than the real living wage, average earnings are £355 weekly – the English average is £443. Housing is five times the annualised salary, the 125th most affordable area in England (where houses are eight times the annualised salary), but home ownership is only slightly higher than average, at 66%, the 293rd area for this measure. The percentage of jobs in the area that are managerial and professional stands at 16%, ranking Mansfield at 528/533 for this measure.
*Data reflecting most recent HC Library Social Mobility Index (Oct, 2018)
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Overall Rankings This insight can help focus and enhance its programme of community engagement to boost outcomes in these communities.
Office
Constituency
Ranking out of 533 constituencies
Great Grimsby
459
Portsmouth South
496
Mid Worcestershire
522
Mansfield
524
Region
City of Portsmouth
Mansfield
Wychavon
Yorkshire & Humber
South East
East Midlands
West Midlands
Median age 28 earnings FSM son (£) 12,200 12,500 12,600 15,300 Quintile pay gap
5 3 5 4
Quintile pay gap conditional on education 5 Quintile education gap Number of sons in sample
4
4
5
4 2 4 3 3389 2941 2011 1816
Number of FSM sons in example 550 332 280 97
Part B - Adulthood
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North East Lincolnshire
Social Mobility research conducted in 323 local authorities in England and Wales shows the top 20% of local authorities are labelled as ‘hotspots’, areas where social mobility is good, and the bottom 20% of local authorities are identified as ‘cold spots’, areas where social mobility is poor.
This would fulfil Barratt’s objective to leave a positive legacy in the communities around its sites - and is a targeting principle that Barratt can then look to scale out from its initial pilot of enhanced community engagement in these areas to other opportunity gaps and cold spots too.
The Social Mobility Pledge has identified opportunity gaps, or social mobility cold spots, around some of Barratt Developments key sites. This insight can help focus and enhance its programme of community engagement to boost outcomes in these communities.
The areas identified include Great Grimsby, Portsmouth South, Mid Worcestershire, and Mansfield.
Analysis According to the new measures for outcomes by adulthood, one of the 24 ‘coldest spots’ is within the locations our analysis of Barratt is conducted on. Three areas (North East Lincolnshire, City of Portsmouth, and Mansfield) have worse than national median earnings even accounting for FSM eligibility. Nationally, sons eligible for FSM at age 16 had median earnings of £13,500 at age 28. One of the reasons for this particular cohort’s relatively poor earnings was the
global financial crisis, which happened as they were beginning to enter the workforce.
backgrounds, and those with more privilege, is wider.
Notably, North East Lincolnshire is amongst the areas with the largest pay gap.
This should inform Barratt’s community engagement specifically in the area of employability, and also in targeting its opportunities, to these local authorities that have featured as cold spots in life outcomes.
In line with the measures used, this outline that for young people growing up in these local authorities will likely go on to have lower median earnings by the age of 28; and in these local authorities, the relative pay gap and education gap between those from the least privileged
This is all in addition to the previous Commission data that has identified cold spots across the early years, school years and youth life stages across areas.
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RECOMMENDATIONS Barratt has demonstrated a strong record of best practice as a purposeled business.
The Social Mobility Pledge has outlined three areas of recommendations for Barratt Developments to consider as it takes forward its approach to boosting social mobility and addressing the barriers to opportunity. This considers how Barratt can leave a positive legacy externally in communities, and internally within the company, across the group and its divisions.
Community Impact: Developing a focused approach in cold spots Barratt Developments should seek to enhance its community engagement, charitable giving and partnerships towards the areas where it has sites located within social mobility cold spots. When Barratt builds new homes and communities within a social mobility cold spot area, it can leave a positive legacy. It can boost social mobility in the areas that need it most by working with schools and colleges to raise aspirations and life outcomes, creating work experience opportunities and through its national charity partnerships and locally driven Community Funds. In summary, Barratt’s engagements in cold spots should focus around the following concepts: • Scale Up: Expand Barratt’s school engagement, with an approach to engage with the lowest performing schools within the social mobility cold spots around its sites;
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• Opportunity: Create opportunities for work experience and site visits as a progression pathway from school engagement; • Volunteer: Encourage employee volunteering days in social mobility cold spots and areas of wider deprivation; • Partnership: Working with strategic third sector, charity or community partners with specialised or local expertise to ensure maximum local impact. • Charity focus: Combine Barratt’s national partnership with local charitable giving and target social mobility cold spots to empower communities to close opportunity gaps. • Measure: Measure and publish the social impact of its community engagement and outreach programmes in its Annual Report.
Diversity Impact: Widening pathways and levelling the playing field The Social Mobility Pledge concludes that Barratt has taken a strong step towards boosting diversity in housebuilding. Barratt should complete the name-blind recruitment pilot and, if successful, the Social Mobility Pledge believes further roll out of this approach would deliver strong outcomes in removing bias at the point of application sifting.
• Ambition: Utilise its Career Toolkits to local schools in these cold spot areas around its sites, helping boost ambition and aspiration;
Furthermore, it is recommended that Barratt Developments trial the ATS’ capacity to monitor more social mobility characteristics of applicants and to monitor the progression of these candidates.
• Inspiration: Extend its ‘role modelling’ practices in schools, ensuring engagement with underrepresented groups is effective and resonates with them;
Once implemented, there is a clear opportunity for Barratt to better understand its impact and to drive continual improvement on diversity and social mobility.
In summary, Barratt should: • Trial the capability of the ATS to track the intake (and thus providing a measure to track improvement) of diversity indices. By tracking and acting on the insights, Barratt can ensure it fulfils its ambition to become more representative of the communities it serves; • Consider piloting the full capacity of the ATS to deliver name-blind practices at the point of recruitment. This will further remove elements of unconscious bias in recruitment practices; • Continue to publish its performance and progress on diversity within its Annual Report.
Industry Impact: Leading the industry on social mobility Based on the impact Barratt Developments would deliver through the Social Mobility Pledge recommendations, it will be a strong and authentic advocate for businessled social mobility and responsible business practices. As a responsible and purpose-led business, it can lead by example and become an advocate for the wider agenda by reframing its relationships with suppliers and other business relationships and encouraging them all to take into account their own progress on social mobility and social value. Barratt has strong foundations, this Opportunity Action Plan aims to empower it to go further and focus and amplify its positive impact – becoming a recognised advocate on social mobility, leaving a lasting legacy and setting this standard for others to follow.