Civil Service internship. Only children of the "working class"

[Quirkswork]

If your child is coming up for 14 and interested in a career in the Civil Service and you have a job in a profession or that means you pay a lot of tax, I suggest you down tools now.

As reported in the Telegraph,

Civil Service internships will only be offered to students from lower income families in a bid to make Whitehall more working class, ministers have announced.

Only young people from “lower socio-economic backgrounds” will be able to apply to Whitehall’s internship programme, the Cabinet Office has said.

A student will be judged eligible depending on what jobs their parents did when they were 14. Students with parents who are receptionists, electricians, plumbers, butchers or van drivers would be among those eligible for the programme.

Because a few people on mumsnet think they know best? Really?

Well it is to buy votes as it’s a headline that does literally nothing, funnily enough announced the same week Corbin announced his new party .

God forbid that working class children start to get some of the same opportunities as middle class children!

What can we do to continue to prevent this from ever happening?

So independent studies but get me one biased towards private school perception?
Considering Sutton Trust research worthless is a bit arrogant.

It is only a small amount at the movement but if they use it for everything which they may do it will affect a lot of people. How are nurses high class, I thought they used food banks.

Which is why the internship uses parental occupation…
But, again, suggesting there’s no advantage to a private education and those children would do just as well in state, including in terms of career, is just absurd.

Biased against?
Or the research backs up that they are bad for social mobility?
Evidence that the Sutton Trust is an unreliable source, please.

I look forward to an explanation of why the Sutton Trust's reports are unreliable - other than they present evidence that some people find uncomfortable.

It isn’t for 14 year olds. It’s for undergraduates. You would have qualified because of your mother’s work.
You’re right. And have demonstrated exactly why it’s needed.

It’s not an exhaustive list. It’s indicative. They can’t possibly list every single job title.

It really isn’t. There’s no way it could be. What do you want? For them to stop doing anything in case people think it’s because Corbyn (that’s how to spell his name) has done something?

I know you know what independent studies / research means

Or did you think I meant independent as in Independent schools.

I’ve just looked back and see I used a capital ‘ I ‘ for the word ‘ independent’
That was a typo but as I was requested non biased info it falls that I meant non biased ie independent

apologies if that was confusing

Not looking at who is producing the information means its short sighted. Only looking at biased information is not valid research and in itself arrogant to only consider one biased source

hope you saw the info you requested on the armed forces. I posted it a while back you haven't noted receipt

If they do something they aren’t doing and there’s no indication (or reason) for them to do it might be bad? Great argument.
A nurse will have a degree. They have some knowledge of the system. It’s not all about money.

Why else would you bring in a pointless measure that does nothing and sounds good in a headline?

Plus one on how Indi parents think
So this didn’t mean you wanted a study which only asked private school parents?

It’s not an exhaustive list. It’s indicative. They can’t possibly list every single job title.

So how are you going to know then, it isn't very obvious, it has high paid train drivers on it and cleaners, there is a lot in-between. I was a lab technician, and an admin person, is that low class or middle or high class. Nurse is high class, up there with Drs and CEOs

Exactly. It’s an illustrative list based on the work carried out by the Social Mobility Commission.
Their annual report is here -

https://socialmobility.independent-commission.uk/app/uploads/2024/09/State-of-the-Nation-2024.pdf

If it’s pointless why are you so worked up about it?
It’s a change to the eligibility for a 200 person internship.
Not even sure why the press have made a deal of it. Because they have seen a way to rile up some more people against Labour I expect.
It’s not a ‘measure’ it’s an admin change. Very small numbers involved. No scope for ‘vote buying’.
Honestly I think people have become so cynical after the Tories doing everything for their mates or for votes and nothing for ordinary people that nobody can recognise a bit of dull government work for what it is anymore.

We’ve just established that the vast majority of senior civil servants are state educated.

The fact that senior corporate positions, senior media positions, the student body of top universities and government is STILL dominated by the privately educated despite the privately educated only being 7% of the population is wild to me.

That's what happens when you ditch grammar schools.

People in elite jobs require an elite education and that is now denied to those of us in the state sector.

It's sad that so many privileged people have a victim mentality.

I expect if you think you might be eligible (hint - it’s mostly blue collar or semi skilled work as you would expect) you look a bit closer and find out if it applies to you.

Why absurd? What evidence have you got to suggest that I’m wrong? Do you think all state schools are rubbish? That’s really insulting to the great state school teachers out there.

Except 75% of senior civil servants are state educated so the civil service is clearly dominated by the stated educated

No, you need recruiters to 'elite' jobs to look beyond recruiting 'someone like me' on the assumption that they are the peak of possibility